Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

It depends how one defines experts. Dr. Doherty is the chairman of the medical board in Crumlin. He is an anaesthetist of considerable experience. I am not a clinician and therefore unable to question his clinical judgment. However, I spoke to Dr. Doherty when he was informed of the decision at a meeting organised by the HSE on the outcome of the McKinsey report. Like all others to whom I spoke, he was extremely enthusiastic. Dr. Doherty's preferred location was St. James's Hospital, but the decision to locate it at the Mater was taken for several reasons.

It is not true that there is no room for expansion. In addition to what I described, 10,000 sq. ft. will be made available at Temple Street, so the hospital can be expanded. We must stop thinking in narrow engineering terms as if we were construction experts. I am now being advised that it cannot physically fit on the site, but the experts assure me that it can. I am told that we should facilitate those coming by car, but the vast majority of cars at current children's hospitals are those of staff members. I hope that improved public transport in this city will lead to a reduced need for staff to use cars, particularly when the metro is to be located there.

Deputy Gormley asked me what parents I had consulted. It was the parents' group in Crumlin that told me to act and not let anything delay implementation. Above all those people, to whom we must listen, want a state-of-the-art facility for their sick children, believing that current facilities leave much to be desired. The original plan was to build a new hospital in Crumlin and another in Temple Street. However, we would not achieve good clinical outcomes, subspecialisation or the kind of hospital that we deserve if we split it over two or three sites. World expertise points to that.

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