Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

I will take this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.

The development of the national paediatric hospital is a priority project for the Government. The objective is to provide a world-class specialist paediatric service for children in this country. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, which was established in May 2007, has statutory responsibility for planning, designing, building, furnishing and equipping the new hospital. The board is made up of representatives from transferring paediatric hospitals, the faculty of paediatrics of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, the public and the HSE. The executive is working closely with the development board in progressing the project. The board is in the process of recruiting a number of key personnel, including a chief officer and a medical director, to allow the project to progress to the next stage. The Department is advised that the development board hopes to be in a position to make these appointments shortly. The board is also procuring professional project management support services. Tenders for a business adviser service are currently being evaluated by the board.

Following the recruitment of the support teams, the next stage of the project will involve the preparation of a detailed development brief for the new hospital by the hospital management team. This will build on the work undertaken for the HSE by RKW, an established UK-based health care planning company, which involved the preparation of a high-level framework brief for the hospital. The target of the board is to have the development brief completed by the end of the first quarter of 2009. The brief will be converted into a detailed design, outlining the exact dimensions and specifications for the new hospital, to allow the project to proceed to tender for construction.

The legal requirements to enable the transfer of the designated site to the HSE have been agreed and the Department has been advised that the transfer of the site to the HSE has now been finalised. I am sure the Deputy will be pleased to hear this. I look forward to continuing progress on this important development.

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