Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has been pursuing this for some time so I will not go back over old ground other than to make two brief points. Under the national development plan, we are planning to move all of our stand-alone maternity hospitals to the site of an acute adult hospital. The Deputy will be aware of plans to move Limerick maternity hospital to University Hospital Limerick, Holles Street maternity hospital to St. Vincent's Hospital, the Rotunda Hospital to Connolly Hospital and the Coombe Hospital to St. James's Hospital. That is Government policy and all of those moves are funded in the national development plan. I am not suggesting the Deputy is doing this but some people, particularly those opposed to the national children's hospital, have suggested that somehow we are not planning to move the Coombe to the St. James's site. We are planning to do so, as I know the Deputy is aware. Tri-location is still the intention. In terms of capital projects in maternity services, we will go ahead with Holles Street first. We have secured planning permission and started the enabling works and the plan is to move Holles Street hospital to the site of St. Vincent's Hospital.

There is an issue with logistics. We have obviously taken advice on this and even with all of the money in the world, it would still make sense to build the children's hospital first rather than do two major projects on one site. I accept that the Deputy did not ask me to build two major projects on one site. The logistics or sequencing is that one builds the children's hospital and then the maternity hospital, and I am satisfied that this approach makes sense.

The Deputy asked whether there is preparatory work we could do in the interim to avoid a major time lag between the completion of the national children's hospital project and the move to the St. James's site of the Coombe Hospital. That is a logical point and he has won the argument in that regard. When I met representatives of Children's Health Ireland recently I asked them to think about what sort of preparatory work could be done by Children's Health Ireland and the Coombe. As the Deputy knows, the Department is finalising its capital plans with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I expect to be able to move ahead with some of the necessary preparatory work and I will inform him of progress once those talks have been fleshed out.