What procurement leaders can learn from Ireland's most expensive hospital project

The National Children’s Hospital has become a €2.2 billion cautionary tale for public infrastructure—and a wake-up call for procurement leaders. Its spiralling costs, blurred accountability, and outdated management systems reveal systemic cracks that future projects, like the National Maternity Hospital, must not repeat. 

Governance must be centralised, procurement must focus on value—not just cost—and risk needs to be actively managed from the outset. The failure to communicate with the public also eroded trust, highlighting the need for transparency across every stage of delivery. This isn’t just a hospital project gone wrong—it’s a playbook on what not to do.

Read the full article to explore the five critical lessons reshaping procurement in public infrastructure.