Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Professor Fitzpatrick's presentation and his vision and ambition. We all agree with it. We have gone around in circles about this hospital for the guts of 20 years. There was controversy about the Mater Hospital, we looked at a site in Crumlin and then we came to St. James's Hospital. Many are still of the opinion that it should not be on any of those sites, but in a new greenfield site or outside Connolly Hospital. Building on a greenfield site would avoid all the problems that we have in fitting into the St. James's Hospital site. It would be a lot cheaper to build on a new site than to go in with bulldozers and starting on a brownfield site.

Is it bad planning? The Taoiseach said in 2014 that we should have trilocation. That should be our ambition; to have a general hospital, a children's hospital and a maternity hospital together, a corridor away from one another. One could open a door and go from one to the other instead of trying to transport patients across Dublin in an emergency, or in my constituents' case, all the way from Waterford or Kilkenny. What Professor Fitzpatrick is saying makes sense. He has covered this already, but why are we only now talking about the third part of the trilocation project? Why was a maternity hospital not part of the recent planning for the national children's hospital?

I refer to the overspend. We do not have the remit to make the recommendations Professor Fitzpatrick seeks. This is the Committee of Public Accounts. We follow the money when it is spent and make sure it is spent correctly. We cannot recommend how money is spent. That is not our remit.

We cannot tell the Government what to do, what decisions to make on policies or how to spend money. It is our job to ensure money is spent to the taxpayers' benefit and value for money is achieved.

On the site, is it large enough to facilitate the three hospitals and all of the associated facilities such as parking? I am aware of the rail connection, but last week I read an article in one of the newspapers regarding the problems experienced by a man from rural Ireland trying to get into St. James's Hospital. People are experiencing problems accessing the St. James's site even before the children's hospital has been built there or consideration given to the location of the maternity hospital there. When all of that work is completed there will be even bigger problems in this area in terms of traffic congestion and parking. The ambition is positive but is it possible to have all three facilities at this location? There are many professionals in this country. Why was the survey not undertaken before the JCBs were allowed on site? The cost of the national children's hospital has increased from €600 million to €1.7 million and may increase further. Is this another case of bad planning? Was there no proper analysis of the site in its totality? It is frustrating and annoying to hear that there may not be room for the maternity hospital on this site. Is the lack of available space for a maternity hospital at this location going to be talked about for the next three years?