Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 June 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

National Children's Hospital: Discussion

Ms Eilísh Hardiman:

I might be able to add to that. CHI and St. James's Hospital have a sustainability and mobility manager on campus. He is leading on a sustainable future and working to ensure that the campus is taken into account when any of the policy issues are being dealt with. We are also using digital measures to establish a facility whereby if an appointment is made, people will be able to use Google to guide and help them so that parents and families will not be stressing about the fastest way of getting to the hospital. That includes the 675 car parking spaces, which is three times more than what we have in the existing children's hospital. I re-emphasise that we have taken access and, in particular, parking seriously. Temple Street Children's University Hospital is, with the exception of the Mater Hospital, the facility that is closest to the centre of the city. Parents are able to get there but when they do, they cannot get parking. Therefore, we really put an emphasis on the parking requirements. At the same time, the campus has some of the best public transport links for those who do not need to come by car. That is not the children and the families but it is some of our staff and visitors and our students in particular.