Michael Collins slams further delay to children’s hospital
Michael Collins slams further delay to children’s hospital “a case study in unaccountable public mismanagement”. ”
Leader of Independent Ireland Deputy Michael Collins, has sharply criticised the latest delay to the completion of the National Children’s Hospital, calling it “a staggering indictment of Government incompetence and a case study in unaccountable public mismanagement”.
Responding to confirmation that the previously announced completion date of June 2025 will now be missed – with no definitive revised timeline in place – Deputy Collins said the public deserves clear answers.
“The original plan was for this hospital to open in 2020. Then it became 2021. Then 2022. Then 2024. Then June 2025. Now even that target has evaporated,” said Deputy Collins.
“We are talking about a flagship national project which has become an open wound on the Irish health system. The most expensive hospital build in the history of the State still has no confirmed opening date, and taxpayers are being treated like fools.”
The Cork South-West TD said the situation epitomised a wider culture of political evasion and public waste.
“When a farmer or a builder misses a deadline, there are consequences. But when senior civil servants and big contractors botch timelines by years and balloon budgets by billions, not a single head rolls. Where is the accountability?”
“The fact that the Government is only now admitting that the June 2025 deadline won’t be met shows that this delay was known – or should have been known – long before today. Were they hoping to slip the truth out quietly when attention was elsewhere?”
He added that the lack of clarity around a new target date only compounds public frustration.
“Parents, doctors and nurses were promised a world-class facility. What they’ve been given instead is a symbol of everything that’s broken in how this country delivers critical infrastructure. A decade of delays, runaway costs, and zero accountability.”
Deputy Collins called for the immediate publication of a realistic, fully costed timeline for completion – along with a detailed explanation of why successive deadlines have been missed.
“It’s time someone in Government stood up and explained, in plain terms, what has gone wrong – and why no one has been held responsible. People are sick of spin and excuses. They want answers.”
