Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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2266. To ask the Minister for Health the current total projected out-turn cost of the National Children’s Hospital, including the €1.88 billion envelope for construction and equipment, the €362 million allocation for ICT and commissioning and any additional notified claims or liabilities; and if the €853 million in additional contractor claims has been accepted, contested, or set aside in Departmental risk projections. [45424/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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2267. To ask the Minister for Health the status of contractor claims relating to the National Children’s Hospital, including the €107 million paid to BAM in July 2024 under bond; the total number and value of claims submitted; proportion accepted, rejected or in legal dispute; and the Department’s current exposure to further litigation or arbitration. [45425/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2266 and 2267 together.

The National Children’s Hospital Ireland (NCHI) project is the largest health infrastructure investment in the history of the State. Work at the St James’s site is in its final stages. The project’s two satellite centres at Tallaght and Connolly Hospitals are open and delivering the new model of care for the Greater Dublin Area.

In February 2024, Government approved enhanced capital and current budget sanctions for the NCHI project and programme, bringing the total approved budget to €2.24 billion.

Included in this is the capital budget of €1.88 billion for designing, building and equipping the NCHI and the two satellite centres. A separate €362 million budget is in place for the Children’s Hospital Programme, which encompasses the work needed to merge and integrate the three existing hospitals and workforces into one, commission the new hospital site, build and integrate extensive ICT systems and the electronic healthcare record, and migrate staff and services over to this new digital hospital. The Programme also included the commissioning of the two satellite centres.

The capital budget was revised to primarily address crystallisation of certain costs unknown in 2018. It was recognised at that time that there would be additional costs outside of the then approved €1.433 billion budget – clearly set out in the 2019 PwC report on the matter – including construction inflation and certain contractual entitlements to the main contractor arising from legitimate change orders.

Under the provisions of the public works contract, Contractors are entitled to submit claims for time and the true value of additional works. Equally the employer, in this case the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), is entitled and continues to robustly defend claims it considers to be without merit or to be inflated. The submission and management of claims will not impact the opening of the hospital.

BAM Ireland has submitted a significant volume of claims, with a total of 3,055 substantiated claims submitted for determination by the Employer’s Representative- the independent third party responsible for administering the contract- as of the end of July 2025. The reported value of those claims (approx. €885m) is that attributed by the contractor, but this value is not a reflection of the true outturn or potential liability of these claims. The NPHDB has advised that BAM’s claimed sum includes duplicate and triplicate claims for value and extensions of time.

The vast majority of these claims have been considered by the Employer’s Representative, with 2,765 of the 3,055 claims determined. The overall change in contract value to date as a result of claims is approximately €57 million and includes Employer Representative-determined claims and those resolved under the dispute resolution process. This is equivalent to just approximately 6% of the contract value (c.€910m). The impact of construction inflation accounts for another c.€48 million.

The revised capital budget includes appropriate contingency to address legitimate claims and to further protect the interests of the State against contractor claims that are without merit or inflated. The NPHDB is confident that the capital project can be completed within the revised capital budget allocation.

Payments under bond are made as part of the dispute management procedure, specifically the conciliation process, as outlined in the public works contract. A payment under bond is only made when the Standing Conciliator’s recommendation has been disputed, and the matter has been referred to the High Court. A bonded payment allows part or all of the recommended payment to be reclaimed, with interest, if a subsequent Court decision reverses the payment.

To date, c.€165m worth of payments inc. VAT/RCT have been paid by the NPHDB to BAM under bond following non-binding recommendations by the Standing Conciliator. Included in that sum is the payment from May 2024 of €107.6m (excluding VAT/RCT) under bond referred to by the Deputy. The matters in dispute have been referred to the High Court where the Conciliator’s recommendations have no bearing on the matter before the Court.

If NPHDB is successful in Court proceedings, the bond guarantees that the State will be repaid, with interest. This payment does not increase the overall contract sum or breach the revised budget approved by Government. In April 2025, a binding adjudication confirmed NPHDB’s position that recommended and bonded sums do not increase the overall contract sum.

While much focus has been on the challenges faced by the project, it is important to note that once open, the NCHI will provide world class facilities to its patients. It will be transformational in how we treat and deliver care to children and their families, for decades to come.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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2268. To ask the Minister for Health the current target date for substantial completion of the National Children’s Hospital given the revised programme to 30 September 2025; and the earliest realistic date for patient services to commence given the nine-month commissioning period indicated by Children’s Health Ireland. [45426/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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2269. To ask the Minister for Health if Children’s Health Ireland has been granted early access to the National Children’s Hospital to begin equipment installation and systems testing; if not, the specific obstacles preventing such access; and the timeline for resolution to avoid further delay. [45427/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2268 and 2269 together.

The timely completion of the National Children’s Hospital Ireland (NCHI) is a Government priority. Everything possible is being done to ensure this world-class hospital will open as quickly as possible, on behalf of children, young people, and their families.

At the St James’s site, work towards substantial completion of the hospital is continuing and approaching its final stages. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) is focused on ensuring all rooms and spaces within the hospital are completed to the high-quality standard set out in the Contract and befitting a world class health care facility. In addition, the technical commissioning of the hospital’s mechanical and electrical systems is underway and will continue until substantial completion.

The NPHDB continues to engage with BAM and to apply all possible contractual levers available to it to ensure substantial completion can be achieved with minimal further delays. The NPHDB has previously and more recently exercised its contractual entitlement to withhold 15% of payments to BAM because of its failure to supply a compliant programme - a realistic and credible plan of how it will compete the hospital.

Ultimately, substantial completion is informed by BAM’s programme of works and its delivery against that programme. On 28 August 2025, BAM provided the NPHDB with an updated programme of works and the Employer’s Representative-(ER) the independent third party responsible for administering the contract - is now reviewing that for compliance with the contract. I await the outcome of that review to bring certainty and assurance that BAM has developed a substantive plan to complete this hospital. I expect BAM to put in place the necessary resources, management and supervision on site to see that plan to completion.

The NPHDB has advised that BAM continues to fall behind its own previous programmes and is not delivering against additional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) monitored by the NPHDB. BAM also continues to insufficiently resource the project. The NPHDB has consistently advised that the largest factor contributing to delay on the project is BAM’s continued failure to manage and supervise project execution on site and its failure to resource the project appropriately. NPHDB reports that productive resources on site for July 2025 are on average fewer than 500, compared to approximately 541 in June 2025 and to 900 at start of December 2024.

In October 2024, BAM committed to permitting additional early access to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) three months prior to substantial completion. The purpose of additional early access is to permit the installation of medical, non-medical and ICT equipment pre-substantial completion. Additional early access is based on BAM completing the necessary rooms and spaces of the hospital to the requisite contractual standards. This additional early access for CHI has not yet commenced, as the areas identified have yet to be offered by BAM at this standard. NPHDB will only accept rooms and spaces which fully meet the standard as set out in the contract. NPHDB advises that there over 5,500 snags to be remediated in the rooms to be offered for additional early access alone.

The NPHDB is seeking, CHI needs, and BAM must deliver on its commitment for handover of areas and rooms for additional early access. BAM must do so in a logical, methodical and timely manner, with the appropriate air, temperature and environmental conditions to allow for installation of ICT and clinical equipment, facilitating beneficial and meaningful additional early access for CHI to give it a head start for its operational commissioning. NPHDB and its Design Team have been ready to accept, and stand ready to accept fully completed rooms to the contractual standard.

I support the NPHDB’s approach and it is now up to BAM to honour its commitments in terms of resourcing, providing additional early access for CHI, and timely completion of this critical project.

Once substantial completion is achieved, the rest of the hospital will be handed over to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) for onsite operational commissioning. In preparation for this operational commissioning phase, CHI started the pre-commissioning phase in July 2023. There is a significant and ongoing programme of work to prepare for the opening, which includes the merge and integration of the three existing hospitals and workforces into one, commissioning of the new hospital site, the build and integration of extensive ICT systems and the electronic healthcare record, and migration of staff and services over to the new digital facility on the St James’s campus.

While much focus has been on the challenges faced by the project, it is important to note that once open and operational, the hospital will provide world class facilities to its patients. NCHI will be transformational in how we treat and deliver care to children and their families for decades to come.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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2270. To ask the Minister for Health her Department’s assessment of the risks associated with transferring patients to the new National Children’s Hospital during winter months, as advised against by Children’s Health Ireland; and the contingency measures to mitigate clinical and operational risks if the commissioning period overlaps with the November to March window. [45428/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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CHI has advised that clinical migration involves the transfer of medical equipment, staff, both clinical and non-clinical, and the transfer of patients from the existing three CHI hospitals to the new hospital. The core objectives of clinical migration planning are to ensure patient safety, to reduce risk, and to inform, engage, train and support staff before, during and after the move.

CHI further notes that clinical migration is a high-risk activity, which involves the transfer of sick children from one hospital to another including children requiring intensive care. In order to minimise that clinical risk, clinical migration must be carried out when emergency activity is at its quietest and elective activity must be reduced so that there is the minimal number of children to be transferred and the maximum number of staff available to achieve this safely.

As this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to provide further response to the deputy as soon as possible.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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2271. To ask the Minister for Health the publication schedule for monthly progress reports on the National Children’s Hospital; the number and value of variation orders; the number of rooms accepted to substantial completion standard; the updated risk register; and the independent assurance reports furnished to her Department and the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee. [45429/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Thank your for your question. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) is statutorily responsible for designing, building and equipping the National Children's Hospital Ireland. Due to the operational matters referred to in your question I have referred it to the NPHDB for direct reply.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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2272. To ask the Minister for Health to detail the costs incurred in the naming and branding of the National Children’s Hospital, including the reported €4,500 spent on the June 2025 naming process; and if further public funds are expected to be allocated to marketing, naming, or rebranding before the hospital opens. [45430/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The National Children’s Hospital Ireland will be world-class facility and the country’s first fully digital public hospital. It will bring together the services of the existing children’s hospitals, Temple Street, Crumlin, and Tallaght, under one roof, delivering world-class care in a state of the art, digitally-enabled facility.

Children’s Health Ireland undertook a branding and naming process, with the support of a specialist branding agency, for the new children’s hospital. The methodology for the process was designed against the following principles (i) engagement and inclusivity, (ii) being mindful of the history and lessons learnt, (iii) time and cost-effectiveness. The name was chosen following engagement with a number of stakeholders, including the Youth Advisory Council whose members help to inform policy and service development by sharing their experiences of Children’s Health Ireland hospital services. The cost involved with this process was c.€4,500.

The name, National Children's Hospital Ireland, reflects the vision of the new hospital being a hub in a national network of paediatric care, which will work with regional and local paediatric units to ensure equitable access to healthcare for all children, as close to home as clinically suitable.

Any further costs associated with naming and branding of the National Children's Hospital Ireland is an operational matter, and as a result, I have asked the HSE to provide a more complete answer.