Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The paediatric community was consulted after the publication of the McKinsey review and was enthusiastic about its findings. Difficulties arose with some members of the paediatric community when the site was chosen. It is inevitable some people will be upset when one hospital must be chosen from among several. I understand that people have preferred locations. What is important, however, is that for the first time, we will have a world-class, state-of-the-art tertiary facility for sick children, collocated with an adult teaching hospital and, subsequently, a maternity hospital that will deal with high-risk pregnancies. This will be a major step forward in the treatment of sick children and it will be welcomed by the vast majority of people, notwithstanding the reservations of some that a particular site was chosen in preference to some others.

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