The finish date for the new National Children’s Hospital is no longer clear after a fresh dispute involving contractor BAM and the board overseeing the project. The latest setback centers on prefabricated bathroom pods that did not pass fire safety compliance tests, creating another obstacle for a scheme already under pressure.
According to the reported details, BAM has not been able to say when the pods will be corrected and brought into compliance. That uncertainty means the overall handover timeline cannot be confirmed, leaving the project without a reliable completion date for now.
The issue is understood to be the latest major disagreement between BAM and the hospital board. With the project already carrying a reported cost of €2.24 billion, any further hold-up is likely to intensify scrutiny of both the construction process and the management of the development.
The unresolved fire safety problem adds to wider concerns about delays at one of the state’s highest-profile health infrastructure projects. Until the bathroom pod defects are fixed and signed off, the timeline for completing the hospital appears set to remain uncertain.
