Opening of National Children's Hospital delayed for the 15th time

The new National Children’s Hospital will not open until at least the end of June 2026.

It is the 15th time the long-awaited project has been delayed.

The hospital will not be handed over until the end of September, and it will take at least another nine months before it is ready for patients.

The potential costs of the hospital continue to climb with contractors BAM submitting over €850 million in claims to date.

David Gunning of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, insists it is not just signing blank cheques.

He was responding to questions from Sinn Féin’s Cathy Bennet:

"There will be 6,000 rooms in the new Children’s Hospital and most of the diagnostic equipment is already in.

"But it’s still not ready and with it already being delayed 15 times – a 16th time is very possible."

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty is criticising the latest delay.

"15 times, like that's crazy. Crazy, because children, you're right, are waiting for this hospital," he said.

"We know it's state of the art, but not only has the deadline been missed 15 times, this project has gone from €650 million up to €2.2 billion and we're not sure that that's going to be the final cost."

In February, the Minister for Health said that she anticipated the final cost of the new hospital would be " close to" €2.24 billion and that additional claims by the builder BAM had yet to be adjudicated.

At that point, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said only €48 million of the €853 million they were claiming had been approved.