Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 22 May 2025
Public Accounts Committee
National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and Children's Health Ireland: Discussion
2:00 am
Mr. David Gunning:
Back to the four-stage process, stage 1 is the employer's representative determination. Then it goes to what is called a project board that may or may not agree what has happened. Then it goes to conciliation. In the case of the €107.6 million, the standing conciliator, who is another engineer appointed for the entirety of the project, has reviewed BAM's claim and he has made a recommendation that this claim should be paid to the value of €107 million. In relation to that, the development board has issued, again under the contract, a notice of dissatisfaction that has the effect of negating, if you like, the recommendation. However, under the contract, if the contractor does two things, we are required to make the payment, but it is a bonded payment. The contractor has to initiate court proceedings which it has done in this case regarding this critical delay conciliation and it must also raise a bond. There is a bond with Zurich, the large financial institution, regarding that €107 million that we hold.