State Open To Further Risk Of Overspend At National Children’s Hospital

The state is open to a further risk of an overspend at the National Children’s Hospital.

That’s according to the chairman of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, which has been told almost three quarters of the Budget has already been spent.

In 2015 the new Children’s Hospital was estimated to cost 650 million euro and promised to be built by 2020.

Costs have now passed a billion euro with the majority of building works not due to be complete until January 2024, with the hospital to open a year later.

A new budget of 1.4 billion euro has been set, meaning almost two thirds of that has been spent with 15 months to go on the build.

Public Accounts Committee Chairman, Brian Stanley, believes there is risk of further cost inflation, while Deputy Chair of PAC, Catherine Murphy, says it can’t all be blamed on construction inflation.

A number of cost claims from the builder are likely to end up in the High Court, as the government exercises damage limitations on the overruns.