Social Democrats TD P\u00e1draig Rice has today renewed his call on the Minister for Health to consider taking legal action against BAM to push the troubled National Children\u2019s Hospital project over the line.<\/p>\n
Deputy Rice, who is the party\u2019s health spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cAt today\u2019s Health Committee, it was confirmed that the 18th substantial completion deadline for the National Children\u2019s Hospital will be missed. There is now a 19th deadline on the horizon, but we still have no idea what the new date is. We\u2019ve only been told it will be another 15 days before we know, which is simply not good enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Minister for Health needs to finally get a handle on this mess and end this relentless cycle of missed deadlines.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuccessive Ministers for Health have been repeatedly given the runaround by BAM \u2013 and this minister is no different. The latest half-hearted intervention was another meeting with Royal BAM, which amounted to nothing more than further delays.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorryingly, the average number of workers on site has remained static at around 560. This is nowhere near the number of workers required to push this crucial project over the line anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cBAM must step up to the plate and take responsibility for its litany of failures. But ultimately, the flawed contract signed by Simon Harris when he was Health Minister is at the root of the problem with this botched project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) said today that the contract contains no levers for them to demand an increase of workers on sites. That is outrageous.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am once again calling on the minister to consider issuing proceedings against BAM for repeatedly failing to fulfil its contractual obligations, and to get a commitment of a minimum number of workers on site needed to deliver this project for the country’s sickest children.\u201d<\/p>\n
March 25, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats TD P\u00e1draig Rice has today renewed his call on the Minister for Health to consider taking legal action against BAM to push the troubled National Children\u2019s Hospital project over the line. Deputy Rice, who is the party\u2019s health spokesperson, said: \u201cAt today\u2019s Health Committee, it was confirmed that the 18th substantial completion deadline […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[540,11,649,642,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-health","category-national-childrens-hospital","category-padraig-rice","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n