Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)

The children from north Dublin, north county Dublin and the rest of the country are being treated in Victorian conditions in Temple Street hospital. The existing facilities are totally inadequate, leading to major queuing, discomfort and lack of privacy. The proposed new hospital, which has been on the agenda for approximately 25 years, will resolve these problems and must be commenced immediately. Our children are being used as pawns in an internal debate within the Health Service Executive as to the preferred location for tertiary paediatric services and this must cease immediately.

Parents are fortunate that the staff at the hospital, notwithstanding the conditions, are continuing to carry out their professional duties in such a caring and dedicated manner, in the interests of the children. Parents, staff, consultants and doctors at the hospital are totally opposed to the delaying of the project, seeing it merely as a stalling tactic to allow the HSE to examine alternative sites. Families throughout north Dublin, as the Acting Chairman, Deputy Glennon, will know well, are suffering. We must proceed immediately and I call on the public and the Minister of State to ensure that we do so as a matter of urgency. I know that Deputy Sargent will join me in trying to ensure that parents in north Dublin get the services for their children to which they are entitled. I urge the Minister of State to act, we must see action.

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