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The new National Children’s Hospital is set to be one of the most expensive buildings in the world and cost a staggering €2.4billion, an expert has predicted.

DCU Professor Paul Davis warned the current €1.7bn budget for the project does not factor in the cost of installing computer systems, inflation for construction projects or a rise in fresh cost claims from the developers.

The public procurement guru told Newstalk: “In estimates, by the time we are finished with putting everything in with the actual fit-out we could be looking at close to €2.4billion – making it one of the most expensive buildings in the world, particularly of a hospital scale.”

The original estimate to build the hospital on a site at St James’s in Dublin city centre was set to be €400 million. There was outrage last year when the Government admitted that figure had quadrupled to €1.7bn.

Professor Davis’ forecast comes as leaked minutes of meetings show that the project is being plagued by fresh delays.

(Image: RTE)

The HSE group overseeing the building - the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) - were told of concerns that the present construction timelines are “not in line” with commitments.

A 131-day delay for the facade of the main hospital building and a 58-day delay for the structural frame of the hospital were reported.

Minutes of meetings published by The Irish Times also reveal an “exceptional level of claims” for additional costs being made by contractors, BAM.

Senior officials were told at a meeting that the contingency fund for budget over-runs is “now not sufficient for a project of this scale and complexity”.

A spokeswoman for the NPHDB insisted the original agreed timeline and budget for the project could still be met.

(Image: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.)

However Professor Davis said the cost is set to keep rising.

“That is not unusual because what we did was we went into a build without a finished design and we have tried to fit everything after the fact rather than doing it before the fact,” he told Pat Kenny.

“And yes, with any build there will always be some contingencies but if you go in without a design in the first place, those contingencies are just going to keep increasing and that is what we are seeing now.”

However, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe insisted: “It is absolutely wrong to suggest that anybody went into this project without a design for the National Children’s Hospital. That clearly is not the case. The project is being built at the moment.

“Yes, we did make mistakes in relation to how the overall costing of that project was dealt with and I am determined that we won’t repeat them again.”

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin accused the Government of showing a lack of honesty over the project.

“The Government have been really hiding this from the public, in terms of the cost of this hospital and the huge difficulties with it,” he said.

“It has gone from about €600m to €2bn and I remember Leo Varadkar saying that short of an asteroid hitting the planet, this hospital would be finished this year – 2020.”

Sinn Féin TD for Waterford David Cullinane said more cost hikes and delays with the hospital would be unacceptable.

“Back in December we were told the maximum cost of the National Children’s Hospital would be at a maximum of €1.7bn. It is clear now, as it was then, that this was aspiration not reality,” he blasted.

“Overruns from this project will lead to cuts in the capital budget for health and other projects will lose out as a result. We need to ensure that does not happen.”