Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Mater site had been identified for donkeys' years. Why was the decision made to fit the national paediatric hospital into that site when there was a broader footprint available? There is a question mark over the initial decision of the then board to develop a national paediatric hospital on the Mater site, the length of time it spent on that process despite precedent in that regard and the availability of a site that could be expanded, and was expanded following the rejection by An Bord Pleanála of its application in that regard. What occurred in relation to the planning is an unholy mess. There is no adequate explanation for any of this in the submission, other than figures around expenditure in relation to this process and a statement that the board has taken on board the lessons learned. We have to take the boards' word for all of this. I accept that the new board comprises architects and that it is going about the process in a somewhat different fashion but the impression is given that the only reason we are where we are is because the Minister made a decision to transfer the children's hospital from the Mater site to the St. James's site. That is not the reason we are where we are at this point in time. The reason we are where we are is because the previous board made a cock-up of the plan to An Bord Pleanála. That plan was rejected because it was flawed and that should be reflected in the document. It is not sufficient to state that arising out of the decision of An Bord Pleanála the Minister made a decision to transfer location of the hospital to another site and, therefore, we have incurred this, that and the other. The submission to An Bord Pleanála of a planning application that was flawed left the Minister with little choice other than to vacate the original site.