Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

The construction of the new national paediatric hospital is an important issue that has been on the agenda for some time. The Government must move forward with this project. The site has been chosen following lengthy consultations on engineering logistics and health involving the Mater Hospital, the Rotunda Hospital and the children's hospitals. All of that is now complete and the recommendation was made by a qualified group of people to go for the Mater Hospital option.

That decision was taken some time ago. The Minister should now outline the timescale for the planning, construction and delivery of the children's hospital.

It is a long time since discussions took place on the upgrading of the children's hospitals. Crumlin Hospital, Temple Street Hospital and St. James's Hospital have never had state-of-the-art facilities. It is now more than 25 years since Temple Street Hospital was supposed to get a new facility in the grounds of the Mater Hospital and ten years since €400 million was put aside for that purpose. Planning applications were prepared and millions of euro spent on plans for the relocation of the children's hospital in Temple Street. Just as the tenders were about to be opened, the Minister for Health and Children put a stay on opening the tenders because the new given wisdom was that there should be a centralised national children's hospital.

The proposal now is to bypass the normal planning application process and to go for the new process under the legislation that allows for structures to directly to An Bord Pleanála on the grounds of strategic importance. There are some suggestions, however, that there could be further delays.

We should be told when the planning application will be submitted, how long it will take, how long construction will take and what has happened to the €400 million specifically put aside and never drawn down for Temple Street Children's Hospital. Is that now part of the €700 million that the existing national hospital will cost?

There are not many good things about a recession but a possible advantage is that construction costs will be cheaper, allowing the Government to get a better deal. This is the time to build. When we consider the tenet of the 1916 Proclamation that the children of the nation should be cherished equally, this would be a good monument to have up and running before we begin the centenary celebrations for 1916.

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