BAM commits to June deadline for Children's Hospital

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said that BAM, the developers of the new National Children's Hospital, have given him a commitment to finish the hospital by June of next year.

There had been concerns that the date for completion of the hospital could slip into 2026.

Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, Minister Donnelly said that he met with the chief executive of Royal BAM, the parent company of BAM Ireland, who gave him a commitment that the June deadline would be met.

"I met the global chief executive of Royal BAM. We had a pretty open and frank discussion; I hope it was a productive discussion.

"They are engaging with the National Paediatric Development Board so that the Government can be presented with a work programme, a timeline that both parties believe… and that Royal BAM will stand over."

"They have committed to the June deadline," he said.

Mr Donnelly said he also asked BAM to put more workers on site to help finish the job.

"They simply have not had enough workers on site, there have not been enough people on site finishing off that hospital."

"I made that very clear to the chief executive of Royal BAM that one of the core things we want to see is more resourcing on site."

When asked if BAM had committed to putting more workers on site, Mr Donnelly said the company’s chief executive "stood over the deadline" for finishing the work.

He also said commissioning works, which must be complete before children can be moved into the hospital as patients will be accelerated.

These will now take place before BAM hands over the hospital to the State.