Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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102. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated updated final cost for the National Maternity Hospital and National Children’s hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21484/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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On 17 May last, the Government approved the legal framework that will underpin the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) to the St Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) campus at Elm Park. Separate to the legal framework, and as required under the Public Spending Code, the final business case for the capital project is progressing.

It is important to recognise that all capital development proposals must progress through a number of approval stages, in line with the Public Spending Code, before a firm timeline or funding requirement can be established.

A Final business case has been submitted to the Department by the NMH Project Board and is now subject to technical review by the Department of Health, including the External Assurance Process for major capital projects recently introduced by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Pending favourable review under the Spending Code, a Memorandum for Government will then be brought forward to progress the programme for the NMH. If approval in principle is granted, the project can move to preparation of tender documents in line with EU law and deployment of a tendering strategy.

The final decision to proceed with the construction of the NMH and therefore to estimate the cost for the new NMH cannot be made until the tender process has been completed and the costings reviewed to ensure that the proposal continues to deliver value for money and remains affordable.

The new Children’s Hospital (NCH) project comprises the main hospital on a shared campus at St James’s, the Outpatient and Urgent Care Centre at Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, and the Outpatient and Emergency Care Centre at Tallaght University Hospital.

In 2018, Government approved a capital budget of €1.433bn for the NCH project. This included the capital costs for the main hospital at St James's Hospital campus, the two satellite centres, equipment for the three sites, and the construction of the carpark and retail spaces. The capital budget has not been depleted.

There are a number of items not included in this investment figure as there was no price certainly for them and nor can there be, for some, for the duration of the project. These include construction inflation, the impact of Covid-19, statutory changes, any change in scope resulting in healthcare policy changes, and the Employment Order.

Additional costs in relation to the integration and transfer of the services of the three children’s hospitals to the new sites brings the total programme cost to over €1.7bn. This includes investment in ICT, a new Electronic Health Record system and the Children's Hospital Integration Programme (the merging of three paediatric hospitals) including commissioning.

Brexit, the pandemic and recent geopolitical developments have severely impacted supply chains and NCH project is not immune to these external challenges. Every effort is being taken to mitigate the risks but these externalities beyond the control of the contractor and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board make speculation and more definitive forecasting unwise.

Furthermore, updates on hypothetical costs cannot be provided due to the fact that there is a live contract in place and speculation on any additional costs would be detrimental to the Development Board’s commercial engagements.