Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We were told in 2016 that the national children's hospital would cost €650 million. We were told in 2017 that the total cost would be €980 million, an increase of approximately 50%. We were told in 2018 the cost would, in fact, be €1.4 billion, another 50% increase in costs. There is also an additional €300 million required for IT and opening the hospital. This brings us to €1.7 billion so far. This is well over two and a half times more than the €650 million we were told about in 2016. It is like people being told in 2016 they could have a house built for them for €250,000 and in 2018 being told it will no longer cost €250,000 but €650,000. This is the scale of the increase the Irish people have been told about.

At €1.7 billion, the Irish people are paying several times more per bed than the most expensive hospitals anywhere in the world. The two most expensive hospitals ever built, in Adelaide and Stockholm, came in at €1.8 million and €1.6 million per hospital bed. The national children's hospital is coming in at €3.6 million per hospital bed, more than twice that of the most expensive hospitals ever built. Some in government state this comparison is not fair and that we must compare the national children's hospital with other children's hospitals, so I did this. Four years ago, the Alder Hey Children's Hospital was finished in Liverpool.

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