Construction company Bam describes it as “normal snagging” on a €2 billion project of huge scale and complexity.
But the body behind the new national children’s hospital has described as “unprecedented” the 106,500 defects in the 5,728 rooms in the hospital yet to be addressed.
The latest information on the long-delayed hospital will be ventilated at a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee this morning.
More than a decade ago, then minister for health Leo Varadkar said the project would be completed by 2020 “short of an asteroid hitting the planet”.
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Six years later, there is still no certainty about when the hospital can open. It’s highly unlikely to do so before next year. Beyond that, who knows?
Martin Wall has seen the opening statements for this morning’s hearing and shares the details.
Bam has said the completion dates will “continue to evolve” until the design is fully finalised.
It also said “highly selective data” was being used about the current state of the project and this was both misleading and failed to show the full picture.
Wall writes: “The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), which is in charge of the design and delivery of the facility, will tell the committee that Bam had not provided an updated substantial completion date for the new hospital, which received planning permission a decade ago.”
The NPHDB is expected to highlight dust in ventilation ducts as “one of the main issues” causing difficulties at present.
Registering short-term letting has become long-term project
Not quite the children’s hospital, but another process that is taking an eternity to complete is oversight for short-term lettings and holiday lets, property typically let out on sites such as Airbnb and booking.com.
The need to register holiday lets was first legislated for in 2018 and introduced in 2019, but seven years later efforts to get short-term accommodation operators to register and to get planning permission have still not been completed.
Jack Horgan-Jones reports that haggling over a “grandfathering” clause for long-time Airbnb operators has bogged down efforts to reform the sector.
It seems there is no final agreement between two Government departments on how best to proceed: Housing and Enterprise.
The Short-Term Letting and Tourism Bill 2025 requires owners of properties to register all units they rent out as paid accommodation for up to 21 days.
The register, operated by Fáilte Ireland, is due to be commenced this year.
Senator accused of blackmail urged to talk to Garda
Martin Wall writes that the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, John Brady, has urged a sitting Senator accused of “blackmailing” a former official of a State agency to stop a fraud investigation to come forward and co-operate with an ongoing Garda investigation.
Wall writes that Brady, a Sinn Féin TD, said on Wednesday that the Garda National Economic Bureau was investigating allegations contained in an unsigned letter sent to members in February concerning an unnamed State agency.
Several weeks ago, the Public Accounts Committee referred the correspondence to gardaí under section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act, which essentially requires anyone with information about a potential criminal offence to provide details to gardaí.
Gerry Hutch registers as a candidate fresh from his Irish Times interview
Cormac McQuinn writes that Gerard Hutch, aka The Monk, has registered as a candidate for the forthcoming Dublin Central byelection.
Our colleagues Conor Gallagher and Enda O’Dowd conducted an extensive multimedia interview with Hutch in Lanzarote this week.
He acknowledged that, if elected, he could be the wealthiest TD in the Dáil. It has been reported he has an extensive property portfolio in Ireland, Spain, Turkey, Hungary and Bulgaria.
TDs and councillors are required to declare their property interests once elected. Some rival candidates in Dublin Central have said Hutch should offer details of his property assets before the election.
According to McQuinn, Labour candidate Ruth O’Dea said: “Voters in Dublin Central deserve full transparency from every candidate; that includes being open about property ownership, so people can clearly see where candidates stand on housing not just in policy, but in practice.”
Another candidate, Janet Horner of the Green Party, said integrity and transparency are important in politics, as is “showing your principled commitment to public good”.
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Miriam Lord’s column notes that Mary Lou McDonald uttered a bad work (well, a little bad) when saying the Government had offered “sweet feck all” to people in its packages to address the cost-of-living crisis. She also writes that Michael Collins of Independent Ireland is the undisputed champion of the Dáil when it comes to being a Katie Taylor fan.
The Government’s current policy allowing workers request to work from home is a failure and is not meaningful, union bosses have told an Oireachtas committee.
Playbook
Dáil Éireann
8.47am: Parliamentary Questions to Minister for Social Protection
10.23am: Parliamentary Questions to Minister for Transport
12pm: Leaders’ Questions
1.52pm: Statements on supports for hauliers and supply chains
This is what the Government unveiled yesterday.
4.17pm: Topical Issues
5.17pm: Private Members’ Bill. Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Voting Rights in Presidential Elections) Bill 2025 – second stage
7.17pm: Dáil adjourns
Seanad Éireann
9:30am: Commencement Matters
11.15am: Motion on proposed approval by Seanad Éireann of a meeting of the Joint Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy, in Co Wexford
11.45am: Statements on fuel supports to the fishing industry
1pm: Seanad adjourns
Committees
9.30am: Joint Committee on Defence discusses procurement and the defence sector.
9.30am: PAC is examining Children’s Health Ireland and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. This will be all about further delays in completing the national children’s hospital.
10am: Committee on Children is discussing safety and wellbeing of children online
