Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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1390. To ask the Minister for Health the current status of the tender process for the new national maternity hospital; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49248/25]

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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1391. To ask the Minister for Health the number of contractors who tendered for the construction phase of the new national maternity hospital; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49249/25]

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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1392. To ask the Minister for Health when construction is due to start on the new national maternity hospital; if she has been provided with a completion date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49250/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1390 to 1392, inclusive together.

Government is committed to the development of the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) at Elm Park.

It is a major infrastructural investment by the State for women’s health, providing much needed facilities for women and babies for generations to come. The extra capacity to be provided at the new NMH will help safeguard national neonatal, maternity and gynaecology service provision.

The overall budget of the new NMH will be made up of several factors including programme costs, inflation and contingencies. The main cost will be the actual construction cost.

In July 2023, Government gave its approval for the NMH to proceed to tender. That process commenced in September 2023 with the publication of Suitability Assessment Questionnaires (SAQ) (the initial step in the procurement process) for the main works contractor, and separately for both the mechanical and the electrical reserved specialists. The purpose of the SAQs was to ensure a robust and efficient tendering process by shortlisting potential contractors based on technical capability, financial and economic standing, and resourcing capacity to deliver the project.

To promote the project and to generate market awareness, the HSE project team and the Design Team undertook significant market engagement including carrying out several ‘Meet the Buyers’ sessions during the initial expression stage. These sessions provided the market with an overview of the project, the procurement and contract strategy, and other important project details. All of the ‘Meet the Buyers’ sessions were well attended by the main works contracting sector and the reserved specialists’ sectors.

In March 2024, the prequalified tenderers were invited to develop and submit tenders to the request for main construction works, and for the reserved specialists (mechanical and electrical). Multiple contractors were involved in that process for the various contracts.

The procurement and tender process has been concluded by the HSE and the outcomes have been incorporated into a Final Business Case. This Final Business Case was recently submitted to officials in the Department of Health and is being reviewed in line with the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines.

In parallel to the review of the Final Business Case, the successful tenderers are now entering into a non-binding pre-construction services agreement (PCSA). This process, which is the application of a direct learning from the National Children’s Hospital Ireland project, will bring successful tenderers together with the project team to ensure that all tenderers and suppliers are agreed on a detailed programme of works before they begin. This will enable more effective monitoring of works. It will also enable successful tenderers to begin mobilising their supply chains. The completion date is informed by the programme of works developed by the successful tenderers and will be fully confirmed by the PCSA process.

A number of new buildings are required to be completed in advance of main works beginning at the Elm Park campus, in order to allow for the decanting of the remaining services away from the footprint of the new NMH. Work on these new buildings began in December 2023 and is due to conclude by end of 2025/ early in 2026.

Once the PCSA is sufficiently advanced and Government can be provided with a more robust schedule and timeframe for completion of the NMH, Government approval will be sought to enable the HSE to proceed to sign contracts with the successful tenderers and begin main building works.

The final decision to proceed with construction will be determined by Government based on the continuing affordability and value for money of the project.

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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1393. To ask the Minister for Health when the new wing of St. Columba Hospital will be open and operational; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49252/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As the Health Service Executive is responsible for the delivery of public healthcare infrastructure projects, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly in relation to this matter.