Fred Barry appointed as chairman of New National Children's Hospital.

Fred Barry, a senior faculty member at the Institute of Project Management, chair the board responsible for building the new National Children's Hospital.

Revelations of an increase in the cost of building the hospital from €987 million last year to €1.4 billion now have sparked a growing political controversy. When other costs are added, the project is expected to cost €1.73 billion and possibly more.

In essence, this is a megaproject which typically is a large scale complex venture that takes many years to develop and build, involves multiple public and private stakeholders, is transformational and potentially impacts thousands of people.

Megaprojects are not just magnified versions of smaller projects. They are a completely different breed regarding their level of aspiration, stakeholder involvement, lead times, complexity and impact.

Megaprojects require reflective practitioners as leaders who have developed deep domain experience in this specific field.

Mr Barry is one of the elite IPMA (International Project Management Association) Level A Certified Project Directors in Ireland. Such individuals are comfortable acting on a strategic level within a very complex project environment.

Minister Harris obviously believes that Mr Barry had the right profile when he said, "I want to thank Mr Barry for taking up this role. The National Children's Hospital is the most significant investment in children's healthcare in this country. "Mr Barry's experience and leadership will be invaluable in ensuring the next phase of this project is delivered for future generations."

Mr Barry has over 30 years of experience in senior leadership positions in the public and private sectors. He has worked on major infrastructural and industrial projects in Africa, the Middle East, Canada, and the USA.

He is the current Chairman of the NTA (National Transport Authority. He was Chief Executive of the National Roads Authority (NRA) in Ireland from 2005 to 2015. Before that, he was Managing Director for the UK and Ireland of international consultancy Jacobs Engineering.

He holds Directorships at the Project Management Group and Ervia. He is also a Member of the Institute of Arbitrators He is a Chartered Engineer, qualified as a barrister and is a Fellow of Engineers Ireland and of the Irish Academy of Engineering, where he is also a council member.