Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Government will consider the suggestion made by Deputy and will consider any other from any other quarter about how we can move this forward in current circumstances. Our priority and concern is to move forward as quickly as possible with the construction of a national children's hospital. However, the Deputy should not be daft about this. He knows as well as I do that this consideration cannot be turned around overnight. We will consider what must be done following An Bord Pleanála's decision.

There is no point in accusing me of being partisan on this issue. The reality is that a great deal of time has been lost and wasted in the preparation of plans for the national children's hospital. A great deal of time which could have been used more productively was spent on decisions about which sites should and should not be selected. Then there were issues surrounding the planning and design of the hospital. There were also issues about the pool of money available to build it. The Government has decided, clearly and without ambiguity, that it will build a national children's hospital. We decided to proceed with the project on the Mater Hospital site because they were the plans we inherited and we believed it was the quickest route to take. We will now have to deal with An Bord Pleanála's decision. We have identified how we will finance the hospital and will go ahead with the project. We will consider the outcome of An Bord Pleanála's decision and then decide the best route to take. Let there be no doubt about it - the Government is determined to build a national children's hospital. We believe the project is urgent and the children of the country deserve no less.

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