The completion date for the new National Children’s Hospital will be further delayed, the Public Accounts Committee will hear tomorrow.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board will tell the PAC that the hospital will not be substantially completed by the end of October.
The board said that the latest monthly report from the contractors BAM has indicated a further delay to the substantial completion date of 29 October.
Once the hospital has been completed it will then have to be commissioned which will take several months.
Some TDs now fear this latest delay will mean that no child will be treated at the hospital until 2026.
Last February the Government gave the green light to a budget of €2.24bn for the completion of the hospital.
However, the board will warn politicians tomorrow that ongoing delays are driving cost increases on the project.
It will say that all possible contractual levers are being applied to complete the hospital.
However, PAC Chairman Brian Stanley tonight expressed doubt as to whether the hospital board has sufficient contractual powers to achieve this.
The initial cost forecast for the hospital a decade ago was around €800m.
Once it is completed the new hospital will have 6,000 clinical spaces, 380 in-patient bedrooms and 22 operating theatres.
