Further delays to new Maternity Unit at RVH
Time for full accountability and transparency regarding publicly funded buildings and infrastructures
December 12th 2025
The new maternity unit at the Royal Victoria, is already almost 10 years behind schedule after numerous delays, and it was hoped that it would finally open next year. However, the recent discovery of high levels of potentially dangerous bacteria in the water system will lead to further delays.
The department of health needs to hold an investigation into why the unit is ten years overdue and why £350,000 has to be spent flushing out the pipes because of an issue that was identified and treated a number of months ago. Whilst unsure if this latest attempt will fix the problem the Belfast Trust has indicated that there is another problem in the Neo-Natal unit which will cause a further delay of twenty-eight months. The department has an obligation to inform the public if these continuous delays and problems are related to design flaws or inferior building materials.
The department and the Belfast trust must explain to the public how much over and above the latest £350,000 has been spent on these major problems, and how much the ten year delay in opening the unit has added to the original agreed costs. The Workers Party is of the view that penalty clauses should have been applied to the contract in order to protect the public purse.
All of these delays and repairs to a public building that is not yet opened and will not be for the foreseeable future only serve to erode public confidence in the procurement process used to approve and appoint contractors for these types of billion pounds projects. It is now time for accountability and transparency regarding publicly funded buildings and infrastructures.
