Paul Cullen, journalist and author of the new book Billion Dollar Baby, looks at the rising costs and delays of the National Children's Hospital.

The new National Children's Hospital, which will be located at St James' Hospital in Dublin, has missed 19 completion deadlines to date, and completion isn't looking likely until 2027 at the earliest.

The project's main contractor, BAM, has been facing mounting scrutiny over building defects and delayed room completions, but is that blame placed correctly?

Journalist Paul Cullen is the author behind the new book Billion Dollar Baby, the landmark investigation into the politics of healthcare, the cost of delay, and the price of promises unkept.

When speaking to The Pat Kenny Show, Mr Cullen explained that he is "so angry" with the amount of money that has been used on the project that could have been utilised elsewhere, but it seems to be a trend in Ireland that we "don't seem to be able to make good use of the resources that we have".

He explained: "I am so angry at the misuse of public funds that the billions that could have been used elsewhere, could have built social housing, could have put in hospital beds.

There's so many things that could have been done and it's a theme of my journalistic life that we don't seem to be able to make good use of the resources that we have. There are so many things that went wrong."

When the host brought up BAM and how the construction company is also working on a building for UCD which is on budget and on time, with virturally no issues, Mr Cullen made sure to point out a few key factors.

He shared: "One is that the problems in this project were apparent long before BAM ever came on the pitch.

"Second is that when last a proper look was taken at the cost, when the PWC did the report, the price of mechanical electrical systems provided by other contractors in the building was rising faster than the building costs.

"The central issue here is the way the building was procured, construction started on this project before the design was completed.

"There's a big grey area there, which was explored before in the PWC report for differences in the view of what needs to be supplied, the quantities that need to be supplied, the quality of materials and the inability to swap out cheaper materials because construction inflation started going through the roof then.

"So there's a lot to be examined there. And I don't think it's being looked at."

Paul Cullen's Billion Dollar Baby: How Ireland Built its National Children's Hospital - At Any Cost is out now.

Main image: Construction underway on the site of the new National Children's Hospital in Dublin. Image: BAM Ireland