Peadar Tóibín
Ceist:512. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the commissioning timeline and the cost breakdown for commissioning the National Children's Hospital site once construction is complete. [38987/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 1 October 2024
Ceisteanna (512)
Freagraí scríofa
The Government is committed to seeing this world-class hospital for the treatment of children open as soon as possible.
There is a significant ongoing programme of work to prepare for the opening of the new children’s hospital, under the Children’s Hospital Programme.
The Children’s Hospital Programme encompasses the integration of the existing hospitals, the commissioning of the satellite centres and the new hospital site, and the delivery of advanced ICT systems and the Electronic Healthcare Record. The two satellite centres at Tallaght and Connolly, which represent major milestones in the programme, have been commissioned and are open.
A major aspect of the commissioning work is the onsite operational commissioning phase. This is the phase following substantial completion of the new children’s hospital and before the opening of new hospital. With over 4,600 clinical spaces, this will be a complex phase. In preparation for this phase, CHI started the pre-commissioning phase in July 2023. This pre-commissioning phase will continue until substantial completion of the building and handover to CHI when the operational commissioning period of at least 6 months will commence.
The budget for the new children’s hospital, as approved by Government in February 2024, is €2.24 billion. This includes c.€1.9billion for the capital construction projects and c.€360m for Children’s Hospital Programme.