THE BUILDER OF the National Children’s Hospital, BAM Ireland, has secured an additional €108 million arising from its 3,407 claims for additional monies on the project.

That is according to the new 2025 financial statements for the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) which confirms that it spent €2.64 million in fees in 2025 on litigation and defending against claims totalling €942.8 million by BAM Ireland over the project.

The NPHDB is the State entity responsible for delivering the National Children’s Hospital (NCH) and in its 2025 financial statements, which provide an update on the status of claims to the end of March this year, it outlines how BAM Ireland has lodged substantiated 3,407 claims amounting to €942.8 million including five inflation claims.

The directors state that as of 31 March this year, the Employer’s Representative (ER) has determined 3,165 of the 3,407 substantiated claims, determining a ‘Net Contract Sum’ increase of €52.36 million plus inflation due under the contract of €48.74 million.

This results in an overall additional total of €101.1 million in additional payments.

The note in the 2025 accounts under ‘Claims Management’ states that an additional eight claims have been agreed in conciliation and are no longer disputed, resulting in an additional €2.1 million paid to BAM Ireland.

The accounts state that a further 16 claims have been through adjudication where BAM Ireland claimed €72.76 million and the adjudicators’ decisions awarded an additional €4.97 million.

A spokeswoman for the NPHDB said on Tuesday: “The value of claims submitted by BAM should not be confused with either the amounts determined to be payable or an increase in the approved project budget.

She said that “claims are assessed through the contractual dispute resolution process. The NPHDB continues to robustly defend claims it considers to be without merit. The Employers Representative (ER) as from the end of August 2026, has determined and awarded a value of 7pc of the claimed total value in accordance with the contract.”

In a recent written Dáil reply on the NCH, the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill told Ken O’Flynn TD that “there is a big gap between what has been sought by BAM and what has actually been awarded”.

In the Claims Management section of the 2025 financial statements, it states that there are currently six disputes before the High Court.

The note states that BAM disputes the validity of a large number of the ER determinations.

It states that in such circumstances, it is not appropriate to make an estimate of any liability arising from a decision, ultimately to be made by the High Court.

It states that the NPHDB is committed to seeking a fair and equitable resolution of all disputed claims.

The financial statements show that the spend on Litigation and Claims Defence of €2.64 million was down on the €4.4 million spent under that heading in 2024.

The board also had legal expenses of €858,000 compared to €1.66 million in 2024.

A note states that in 2025 the legal fees relating to injunction proceedings brought by O’Reilly Avenue near the hospital amounted to €133,000 in 2025.

Concerning the O’Reilly Avenue legal bill, the note states that the legal fees and related costs are being claimed under the insurance cover that is in place.

The NCH project has been beset by delays and budget overruns, with the estimated cost of the project quadrupling from €650 million to €2.24 billion.

In her written Dáil reply, MacNeill stated that BAM has shifted its Substantial Completion date 20 times over the last six years.

Once Substantial Completion is reached to the required healthcare standard, Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) will begin operational commissioning and MacNeill stated that she worked with CHI and the HSE to reduce the operational commissioning timeline from nine months to seven months.

She said: “What is needed now from BAM is certainty, adequate resourcing, and real productivity to complete the job.”

Asked to comment on the Claims Management section of the NPHDB 2025 financial statements, a spokesman for BAM Ireland on Tuesday declined to comment.