Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 25 September 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health
Update on Construction of New National Children's Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board
9:30 am
Mr. David Gunning:
We have not yet got an updated baseline programme and we discussed that at some length earlier. In terms of works coming to a halt, that would be a terrible situation to arrive at. It would just be unacceptable to all of us. There are examples around the world of hospitals that, for whatever reason, came to a stop and the recovery period for those was years. The Sidra Paediatric Hospital in the Middle East was a large hospital that was more than 90% complete and it stopped due to a dispute. We had the collapse of Carillion in the UK about five years ago, which affected hospitals in both Birmingham and Liverpool. Recovery in those situations was appalling and those projects were set back by years. We certainly do not want that to happen. We have to get the contractor to get this project finished in June of 2025, or shortly thereafter, to get it open in 2026. That is what we need to achieve. We are dependent, as I have said several times, on the contractor. We want the contractor to get its staff and resources in there and get it done. That is where we want to get to.
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