Members of Committee of Public Accounts visit site of National Children’s Hospital to view construction progress

Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Brian Stanley and Deputies Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Colm Burke and Cormac Devlin were given a tour of the site at St James’s Hospital in Dublin by representatives of the NPHDB and the main contractor, BAM.

Commenting after the visit, Deputy Stanley said: “The Committee has oversight of State expenditure and has taken a keen interest in the new National Children’s Hospital, which is the largest construction project in the history of the State. We have been closely following the cost of the project, the timeline for completion and additional costs that may have arisen during the construction phase.

“At the invitation of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, we visited the site to see the progress on the project for ourselves, meet the contractor, meet representatives of the Board, and see some of the issues that have arisen during the construction phase. While we get regular reports on the project in the Dáil and to the Public Accounts Committee, we felt that we really needed to come on site to observe the progress and see first-hand what the State’s expenditure is delivering – today was a good opportunity to do that.

“We have seen that substantial progress has been made; the shell of the hospital is there and that is welcome. While I am in no doubt that it will be an impressive campus, it remains to be seen whether it will represent value for money. Obviously, that is a big issue for PAC along with the final cost and the completion date – which hopefully will be in early 2024 – as this facility is badly needed for children’s health in this State.”

Deputy Stanley thanked the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and BAM for the tour of the construction site and the briefing on the project.

PAC is a standing committee of Dáil Éireann which focuses on ensuring public services are run efficiently and achieve value for money.