The extraordinary overrun in the cost of building the national children’s hospital requires a full explanation and a reassessment of how major public capital projects are dealt with. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board to oversee the project was established in 2007 but construction work only began 10 years later. The estimated cost of building the hospital then rocketed from €983 million in 2017 to €1.433 billion today. The resignation at the weekend of the children’s hospital board chairman Tom Costello was inevitable. As the blame game intensifies, Minister for Health Simon Harris might usefully take the lead by starting to provide answers.

Source: The Irish Times February 04, 2019 00:10 UTC