Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
969. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of claims relating to the development of the new children's hospital which have been referred to the courts, by court; the date of referral; the disputed value of each claim as per the contractor; and the summary details of each claim, in tabular form. [3969/26]
View answerOpening 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.
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. On 19 December 2025, partial additional early access to the Level 6 Ward block area of the building was provided to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) by BAM. This has enabled CHI to begin the deep cleaning of the area and begin installation of medical equipment on Level 6. This access will allow CHI to derisk the onsite operational commissioning period, which commences following substantial completion.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) is delivering the NCHI capital project under a modified PW-CF1 public works contract. 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 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.
Five claims have proceeded through the disputes process under the contract and are before the High Court. These disputes concern a frame claim (served in September 2025), a critical path conciliation, Level 7 steel, inflation regarding a critical path reconciliation (served in October 2025), and the Phase B instruction for BAM to begin the above ground works on the project.
The first four claims listed above are associated with bonded payments. On 3 December, BAM initiated proceedings to prevent NPHDB from taking steps to call payments provided under bond, rather than seeking to progress the cases associated with those bonded payments to bring them to conclusion. As a result, on 10 December, NPHDB issued its own motions seeking to have these 5 sets of proceedings entered the fast-track commercial list of the High Court. The applications were heard on 12 January 2026 and the Court allowed all proceedings to be entered into the Commercial List.
It would not be appropriate to speculate on the outcome - financial or otherwise - of matters to be considered by the courts. NPHDB will not be deterred from continuing to protect the public purse from claims that it considers are without merit.
While much focus has been on the challenges faced by the project, it is important to reiterate 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.
