The Minister for Health has warned that retendering the contract for the National Children's Hospital would only delay the project further.

It comes after construction firm BAM Ireland said it would “cooperate” it the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) asked it to step away from the project.

The projected cost of the project has spiralled to at least €1.7bn over recent months – up from the original €650m estimate.

This morning, a spokesperson for the Minister for Health said the NPHDB had considered retendering the project as one of three options to keep costs down – and concluded it would only delay the project further.

She said the Minister remains “absolutely committed” committed to delivering the hospital.

She noted that he has been “absolutely clear” that if an independent review of the process, currently underway at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), recommends action against any individual or company, the Government “will not be found wanting when it comes to acting.”

Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly

This afternoon, Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly told Newstalk that if cost of the project can go up so easily, it should be possible to bring it back down again.

“If you add somewhere between half-a-billion and a billion Euro to a project, it seems reasonable that with the right will and the right skill, that some of that can be brought back down again,” he said.

“I think that is very important to protect other healthcare projects around the country.

“The focus really has to be on the costs. So are there serious questions of governance and governance failures to be addressed? I think there are.”

Earlier this week, Wexford TD Mick Wallace urged the Government to re-tender the project – insisting “you could save yourselves in the region of a half a billion if you re-tender it."

In its own statement BAM Ireland said it would fully engage with the PwC review – and insisted it “did not benefit inappropriately” from the tender process.

The NPHDB has said it remains committed to delivering the new children's hospital.