Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

The Minister of State who is seated beside the Minister made a serious allegation, which he was unable to substantiate, on national television last night.

The Minister is correct in her observation that there was goodwill towards the McKinsey report among the paediatric community. Does she accept that Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin has no vested interest in this matter? The notion that staff in that hospital are engaging in some type of obstruction is not convincing given the hospital itself will not exist in the future. Four hospitals will be crammed onto the site of the Mater Hospital, including that hospital's adult and private facilities, the children's hospital and a maternity hospital.

Does the Minister accept this is one of several serious flaws that have emerged from this decision of the Government? Will she consider an independent view of the plan? Let us all be proved wrong. If an independent review concludes that this is the best site for a children's hospital, I will have no problem admitting to the House that the Minister was correct and I was wrong. Until that happens, grave doubts will persist. If the Minister does not have the goodwill of those working in paediatrics, including those working in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, it will be difficult to make this proposal work.

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