The Taoiseach has said it is “clear” that the National Children's Hospital is going to cost 'significantly more' than the government had been planning for.

The National Paediatric Health Development Board appeared before the Oireachtas this morning, where Taoiseach Leo Varakar admitted the hospital is now likely to cost far more than the €1.433 billion that was previously set aside for it.

"That allocation was made back in 2018 and hasn't been increased since. It is going to cost more than that," he said.

"It is clear that it's going to be significantly in excess of €1.433 billion."

The board would not give a figure of the total completion costs of the hospital – but confirmed it has submitted a capital request to the Government.

There were a number of claims about the performance of BAM – The Children's Hospital contractor – including revelations that the contractor hasn't provided a progress report in four months.

The board revealed deficits in productivity from BAM, with just 27 out of a targeted 3,000 rooms deemed complete.

Meanwhile, BAM has also submitted over 2,000 cost claims totalling €756 million, which were described as 'grossly inflated' by the hospital's CEO David Gunning.

Of these claims, only 16 of them relate to 2,376 working days.

If BAM is successful in all of its claims, it would bring the costs to nearly €2.2 billion.

BAM's performance

Fianna Fail TD John Lahart said major questions remain about BAM's performance in the hospital's construction.

"If this was a contractor on a school, or if this was a contractor on a house, and you had questions about the productivity rate being low [and] about progress reports not being provided for four months, you'd call it and say, 'Who could give this company any contract in the future?'" he said.

The contractor had previously confirmed that an updated programme for completion would be submitted by the 7th of July 2023, but Mr Gunning said the board are still awaiting this.

Additional reporting from Faye Curran.