How not to pour money down the sewers

There is nothing new about the administrative chaos or cynical political reaction to the hike in the cost of the National Children’s Hospital. When a ‘cost benefit analysis’ is rebranded a ‘scenario sensitivity analysis’ it explains why a project estimated at €640million is now expected to run to €2billion.

Jim Breslin, the secretary general of the Department of Health, said he did not think costs will reach €2billion – but he couldn’t rule it out.

Mr Breslin and Simon Harris are probably too busy to watch TV, but I can recommend the recent BBC series on the building of London’s new underground sewer system. It was a magnificent showcase for the skills of the engineers and project managers involved. 700 lorry-loads of concrete were threaded through the city’s busiest streets to line the 72-metre connection shaft below.

There were cliffhangers: can they get the diversion pipe to the Embankment extension fitted before the tide comes in? And it was all done without interrupting the city while it worked and slept.

I was very proud when so many of the key designers, engineers and project managers were Irish. The system took three years to build and opened last year.

The total bill was was €5.69billion – or probably double the cost of the world’s most expensive hospital in Dublin.