The progress of other capital projects has been jeopardised by the “fluctuation” in spending on the new Children’s Hospital, costs for which recently hit €2.2 billion.
The Capital Plan is an annual document that sets out the planned Health infrastructure investment within a given year.
The children’s hospital spending is listed as one of the challenges associated with the delivery of the 2024 Capital Plan, alongside the current and future construction inflation on all projects and the measures required to achieve the 2030 and 2050 climate targets.
The Capital Plan notes that the HSE has set aside €209 million for the completion of the Children’s Hospital. The original estimated cost in 2015 was €650 million.
Then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil in February that €2.2 billion is the maximum allocation for the completion of the National Children’s Hospital and that the current Government “will not be allocating any more”.
The report earmarks almost €25 million for the new National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s in Dublin.
The need for new acute beds across the system is addressed, with the plan saying the HSE intends to “continue progress at University Hospital Limerick with the expected completion of 16 beds” by the end of 2024.
Construction of the first of two 96-bed blocks is due to finish at UHL in the first quarter of 2025. and planning permission is lodged for the second 96-bed block.
A Senior Project Manager is to be appointed this year to oversee and steer the delivery of a refreshed infrastructural masterplan for University Hospital Galway.
Two surgical hubs are under construction, in north Dublin and south Dublin, while tenders have been received for another four in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
The plan promises that in 2024 the HSE will progress the design and development of Elective Care Centres in Cork, Dublin and Galway.
€14.5 million is to be provided in 2024 to maintain the current ambulance fleet, while €11.55m is to be allocated to support the provision of new infrastructure and the modernisation of existing ambulance
bases.