Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I am well aware of the Deputy's views on myself as they were well publicised in the aftermath of the election. I am, however, delighted to see him back in good health and I say so genuinely.

As I understand, the board of the National Children's Hospital, Tallaght and certainly the paediatricians in the hospital generally support the move to a single tertiary hospital for sick children. I have not met all the paediatricians but have met many from all over the country and I have yet to meet one who does not support what we are doing, which represents best practice internationally to get the best possible state-of-the-art hospital for very sick children. Most clinicians in the area, whether nurses or doctors, would strongly favour that.

I am not an expert on the charter but do not believe any charter would put patients' safety second to anything else. For those with serious organ failure and serious illnesses there can only be one tertiary level centre with the expertise required in a country such as ours, with a population of 4.3 million, or even on the island of Ireland. That centre must be co-located with the national hospital because even with sick children we will not have sufficient numbers in the different specialties for sub-specialists to be able to deal only with children. I do not accept that the decision that has been made in any way undermines Tallaght Hospital.

Finally, the HSE did not bully, harass or threaten Tallaght Hospital. It told Tallaght Hospital to make up its mind and asked if it wanted to proceed with co-location or not. That was not unreasonable and I am pleased to say the board unanimously agreed to go ahead.

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