A local councillor has described the further delays at the National Children's Hospital as an international scandal.
The facility is once again delayed, with the estimated cost rising to at least 2.2 billion euro - making it the most expensive children's hospital in the world.
Cllr Shane P O'Reilly who is also an election candidate in the upcoming General election for Cavan/Monaghan says one thing we know for sure is the much-anticipated hospital won't be opening any time soon. He says it was meant to be opened in October 2024, then February 2025 and now the new date set is January 2026.
Cllr O'Reilly says he would not be one bit surprised that it may not even open until January 2030. The then-Heath Minister Leo Varadkar back in 2016."Short of an asteroid hitting the planet" the National Children's Hospital will be built by 2020 for a cost 700 million euro.
In a letter to senior government colleagues, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly accused the contractor, BAM, of trying to "extract as much money from the Irish taxpayer as possible" - something BAM has described as "misleading, ill-informed and incorrect". Cllr Shane P O'Reilly has been critical of the projects location from day one and the Co Cavan public representative believes accountability is needed and needed now.
