The chief officer of Ireland’s troubled National Children’s Hospital project had his Harvard Business School certificate funded by taxpayers, with tuition fees amounting to €23,307.
David Gunning, who heads the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), completed the corporate director certificate at Harvard in 2022, following a diploma in corporate governance from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2021. The combined cost of both qualifications reached €25,557, excluding travel and subsistence expenses.
The revelations come as the hospital project faces mounting scrutiny over delays and cost overruns, with the budget ballooning from €1.7bn in 2019, when Gunning was appointed, to more than €2.2bn currently. The board’s travel and subsistence costs notably increased from €4,000 in 2021 to €15,000 in 2022, coinciding with Gunning’s Harvard studies.
Recently, Gunning expressed uncertainty about meeting the June 2025 completion deadline, leading to calls from Public Accounts Committee chair Mairead Farrell for urgent board appearances to address “hugely alarming” overspending and delays.
According to The Irish Examiner, while the NPHDB defends the expenditure as part of staff development under the Better Public Services Transformation Strategy, they have declined to provide detailed breakdowns of associated travel costs.