The National Children\u2019s Hospital debacle looks set to continue well into the term of the new government, with no certainty over how much it will eventually cost or when it will open to young patients, according to Social Democrats TD P\u00e1draig Rice.<\/p>\n
Deputy Rice, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on health, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learned today that the potential cost of the National Children\u2019s Hospital has soared by another \u20ac100 million in just a matter of months. The bill now stands at almost \u20ac2.5 billion, although no one truly believes that this will be the final figure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is simply outrageous that, after repeated delays and scandalous budget overruns, we still don\u2019t know exactly how much this financial behemoth is going to cost the taxpayer or, crucially, when it will start treating patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are led to believe that the hospital will be substantially completed by June \u2013 but there have been many other completion dates before that have been missed. How confident is the government that this latest date will be met?<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in a best-case scenario where the hospital is completed this summer, we are now told that children will not be transferred there during the winter for clinical reasons. This means it will be at least 2026 \u2013 notwithstanding further slippage \u2013 before children can be treated there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Children\u2019s Hospital is not only the biggest ever capital investment in the health service, it is also the most botched capital project in the history of the State.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need time set aside in the D\u00e1il to discuss this fiasco and for the new Minister for Health to publish the briefing she received on this project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe children of Ireland, and their families, have waited long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
February 18, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The National Children\u2019s Hospital debacle looks set to continue well into the term of the new government, with no certainty over how much it will eventually cost or when it will open to young patients, according to Social Democrats TD P\u00e1draig Rice. Deputy Rice, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on health, said: \u201cWe learned today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[540,11,642,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-health","category-padraig-rice","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n