Dr. James Browne:

I would agree. The legislation has provided for great clarity around the existing hospitals. Bringing together the existing hospitals has been a major achievement. That the hospitals in Crumlin and Temple Street effectively shut down their governing authorities and passed authority to us was a major step forward without any baggage in terms of any ethical issues or whatever. That was done very well. Great credit is due to the people involved - to the boards of those hospitals and indeed to the religious orders and the Archbishop of Dublin who did a fabulous job in having that transformation take place under the radar but very efficiently.

There is necessary complexity in a project like this because we have a role as a board in terms of managing existing facilities that we now control, acting as client for the new hospital, and also preparing for a new facility and preparing our services. That provides tremendous challenges and is obviously complex, but I think our board is up for that.

The other complexity arises from the fact that the hospital is funded publicly. Therefore, the control of the budget does not lie with my board or the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. That is unusual. We recognise that is necessary in the context of public investment.

There is also necessary complexity associated with standardisation. We all agree on the need for a national electronic health record across the service. On the other hand, we have to progress it with each hospital in the context of a national standard. That provides complexity.