Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
1472. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Health if the enabling works for the new national maternity hospital are now complete; if so, the final cost of these works; the breakdown, in tabular form, of the cost by the categories of work undertaken (details supplied). [19772/22]
View answer1475. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Health the reasons for the current cost overrun for the new national maternity hospital for the enabling works rising from the initial estimate of €20 million to at least €51.2 million, broken down by cost category. [19775/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1472 and 1475 together.
The Government is committed to the development of the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) planned for the St. Vincent’s University Hospital Campus at Elm Park, as set out in the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future.
Enabling works were undertaken to prepare the site of the new NMH and de-risk the campus in advance of the construction works for the new hospital. These works comprised of the carpark extension and relocating some SVUH departments that were located on the proposed site of the new NMH, such as the pharmacy, and diverting utility services to other locations on the SVUH campus.
The pharmacy and multi-storey car park extension were completed in 2021 and both are fully operational. The enabling works to prepare the site of the new NMH and de-risk the project and campus in advance of the construction works for the new maternity hospital are nearing completion.
A breakdown of the expenditure to date is detailed in the table below:
|
Enabling works |
Spend to date Incl. VAT(€m) |
|
Replacement of pharmacy and an extension to the multi-storey car park |
€28.9m |
|
Other enabling works |
€22.3m* |
|
Aspergillus protection and prevention works |
|
|
Enabling works/site preparation works |
|
|
Infrastructural, demolition and utilities diversion works |
|
|
Total |
€51.2m |
The contract for the Pharmacy and extension to existing multi storey carpark were awarded as a single construction contract and are not apportioned separately.
*As the construction contracts for a number of these works are ongoing, the individual contract costs are commercially sensitive and therefore are not broken out separately.
