Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister, Mr. Breslin and Ms Duffy for appearing before the committee. I support the Minister in his assertion of the need for the hospital. Anyone who calls for a halt to the project at this point cannot have been to one of our paediatric hospitals in the past few decades. It is all fine turning up at the accident and emergency department with one's child who has a broken arm, but when going down the corridor to get a cup of tea, one meets children with drip stands undergoing chemotherapy with masks. One is in contact with all sorts of bacteria, there are bits of plaster missing from walls and there is utter neglect of our children. For anybody who thinks that the project should be stopped, I urge him or her to tip out to Crumlin or Temple Street on a Friday or a Saturday.

I come to this as someone who very much bought into the whole project, studied it and rejected the notion that it was the wrong site. There are some people today who will still talk about a greenfield site. I bought into the project and the need for parental accommodation, valet parking and the modern facilities a modern hospital needs. That is why I was so disappointed when this all came out. I had been one of those who spoke publicly about the hospital over the years as someone who has had reason to use children’s services a great deal, albeit more for clavicles, thank God, than for chemotherapy. That is what is so difficult about this. We sat here in October 2017 and Professor Hardiman presented a model of the hospital. It concerns me today that in that beautiful model we saw with the rooftop garden it appears no one thought about what was under it and the design element until stage A was in the ground. It is almost as if someone was looking at Pinterest for a couple of years and chatting about what sort of hospital he or she might like if he or she ever got the chance to build one. Having someone sit down to make decisions about what the walls would be made of and how many rooms would be provided appears from the evidence we have been given to be a process that did not start until 2017.

I note some of the comparisons that have been made on bed numbers. I agree completely with the Minister that this is apples and oranges stuff. In comparing this to other hospitals, one is looking at completely different tax regimes and different room sizes. The accusations regarding international comparisons and data which are being thrown around are of absolutely no relevance to the current issue. I was asked the other day why this happened and I replied “Because it can happen”. I said it here last week also. Deputy Kelly spoke earlier about the board structure and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board appointed by the Minister in 2009. Somehow there was a change in governance structures along the way in May 2017 when the new board and steering group was established. I could understand that happening if the first set of people were looking at Pinterest. I could understand the need to set up a group of people who would actually make decisions and do things. The Minister appointed that board.