By Conor Kenny
With recent reports stating that the new National Children’s Hospital (NCH) is 80% complete, it would be an understatement to suggest that the long-awaited project has come with its criticisms of the escalating cost and timeframe of the project.
The National Children’s Hospital under construction in 2018. Photo source: bamireland.com
First recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons in 1993, it was February 2006 before the HSE commissioned a report which recommended the merging of the three existing children’s hospitals; Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin, Temple Street Children’s Hospital and the National Children’s Hospital in Tallaght.
In 2007 the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) was established, choosing The Mater Hospital in Dublin 7 as the location for the new hospital. This plan was nullified in 2012 by An Bord Pleanála as it would overdevelop the Dublin skyline.
In June 2012, The Government announced that St. James’ Hospital in Dublin 8 would be the location for the NCH, despite criticisms of access and its central location. A projected delivery date of early 2018 was also announced.
With an original estimated cost of €500 million, and an agreed location, a series of delays arose for the Government in the following years.
Rising cost: the cost of the National Children’s Hospital has risen by over €1.2 billion since its Dublin 8 location was first agreed
Planning permission wasn’t granted until 2016, prior to the then Minister for Health Leo Varadkar announcing an additional €150 million in costs for the project in August 2015, bringing the estimated cost to €650 million.
Further delays in the process came about the following year, as it wasn’t until April 2017 that the hospital was signed off on by Varadkar’s successor in the role, Simon Harris.
Harris denied that the budget for the hospital had spiralled out of control, despite the cost rising to over €1 billion.
“We are doing an awful lot more than was estimated in that figure – we did not include the hospital school, the third level research centre, the retail and the parking. It didn’t include the equipping and it certainly didn’t include making this Ireland’s first digital hospital,” said Mr. Harris in April 2017.
“I expect, and the government expects, for this to come in on budget and on time.”
It did not, and the estimated cost rose again to €1.433 billion in December 2018 when Leo Varadkar addressed the Dail on the project.
Fast forward to April 2022, when current Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly confirmed that costs have risen to €1.7 billion, while the hospital still hasn’t been built, over four years after its first estimated delivery date of early 2018.
As things currently stand, the new opening date for the NCH is September 2024, as was announced at the hospital’s media tour last month. It was also announced that the project is now 80% complete.
Current reports have suggested that the total costs for the project could exceed €2 billion, with Minister Donnelly refusing to rule out this possibility.