Billion Dollar Baby: How Ireland Built its National Children's Hospital - at any cost
Paul Cullen
Oct 2026 · Hachette Books Ireland · Narrated by Stephen Hogan
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10 hr 39 min
Unabridged
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'Gripping, even-handed and forensic ... Part political thriller, part fiscal horror, this book should be a must-read for every taxpayer and policymaker' MIRIAM O'CALLAGHAN
'A monumental achievement ... you should read every word' Sunday Independent
'A grim litany of design oversights, unexpected bills and board resignations, all dissected with clinical precision' Irish Times
'Jaw-dropping ... shocking' RTÉ Guide
It was meant to be a symbol of how far Ireland had come - a world-class national children's hospital that would finally honour the promise of the nation's founders to cherish all its children equally. Instead, it became a cautionary tale of ambition gone awry.
In Billion Dollar Baby, award-winning journalist Paul Cullen delivers the definitive account of Ireland's most expensive and controversial public project to date. From its conception in the 1990s to its still-delayed opening more than three decades later, Cullen exposes the tangled web of political interference, medical rivalries, flawed planning and spiralling costs that turned its construction from a €650 million vision into a near-€3 billion behemoth.
With insider access and forensic detail, he explores how vested interests derailed progress, how tendering missteps and design issues inflated the budget, and how secrecy and inertia kept the project alive long after common sense had fled.
Billion Dollar Baby is a landmark investigation into the politics of healthcare, the cost of delay, and the price of promises unkept.
'A monumental achievement ... you should read every word' Sunday Independent
'A grim litany of design oversights, unexpected bills and board resignations, all dissected with clinical precision' Irish Times
'Jaw-dropping ... shocking' RTÉ Guide
It was meant to be a symbol of how far Ireland had come - a world-class national children's hospital that would finally honour the promise of the nation's founders to cherish all its children equally. Instead, it became a cautionary tale of ambition gone awry.
In Billion Dollar Baby, award-winning journalist Paul Cullen delivers the definitive account of Ireland's most expensive and controversial public project to date. From its conception in the 1990s to its still-delayed opening more than three decades later, Cullen exposes the tangled web of political interference, medical rivalries, flawed planning and spiralling costs that turned its construction from a €650 million vision into a near-€3 billion behemoth.
With insider access and forensic detail, he explores how vested interests derailed progress, how tendering missteps and design issues inflated the budget, and how secrecy and inertia kept the project alive long after common sense had fled.
Billion Dollar Baby is a landmark investigation into the politics of healthcare, the cost of delay, and the price of promises unkept.
'Gripping, even-handed and forensic ... Part political thriller, part fiscal horror, this book should be a must-read for every taxpayer and policymaker' MIRIAM O'CALLAGHAN
'A monumental achievement ... you should read every word' Sunday Independent
'A grim litany of design oversights, unexpecte...
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About the author
Paul Cullen is a journalist and the author of three acclaimed non-fiction books. Born in London and raised in Dublin, he studied engineering at Trinity College Dublin before spending five years in Switzerland. On returning to Ireland, he trained in journalism at Dublin City University and joined The Irish Times in 1993, where he reported on health, politics, consumer affairs, international development, and education over a distinguished three-decade career.
He is the author of the best-selling With a Little Help from My Friends, which investigated corruption uncovered by the planning tribunal, and has won numerous awards for his work - including Irish News Journalist of the Year in 2023. Outsider: A Memoir of Survival, Family Secrets and the Search to Belong, was published by Hachette Ireland in February 2026, and will be followed in October the same year by his ground-breaking expose of the Irish national children's hospital scandal Billion Dollar Baby.
Paul Cullen lives in Dublin with his wife and four children.
He is the author of the best-selling With a Little Help from My Friends, which investigated corruption uncovered by the planning tribunal, and has won numerous awards for his work - including Irish News Journalist of the Year in 2023. Outsider: A Memoir of Survival, Family Secrets and the Search to Belong, was published by Hachette Ireland in February 2026, and will be followed in October the same year by his ground-breaking expose of the Irish national children's hospital scandal Billion Dollar Baby.
Paul Cullen lives in Dublin with his wife and four children.
Paul Cullen is a journalist and the author of three acclaimed non-fiction books. Born in London and raised in Dublin, he studied engineering at Trinity College Dublin before spending five years in Switzerland. On returning to Ireland, he trained in journalism at Dublin City University and joined ...
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