Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

We welcome the fact the Minister appointed the Dolphin group which is to report 56 days after its first meeting. I do not know what its findings will be but it has been asked to look at the Mater site, a greenfield site, a brownfield site, co-location and whether a stand-alone national paediatric hospital can be established.

These are quite broad terms of reference, which are welcome in the sense that at least everything is on the table again.

There is no doubt the report of the Dolphin group and its recommendations will delay the building of a national children's hospital because wherever it will be located, a process will be required. Obviously we would like it to go ahead as quickly as possible. In the meantime our children's hospitals, including the one in Crumlin, suffer greatly from a lack of capital investment. I do not expect any Minister to fund huge capital investment programmes without knowing where the national children's hospital will be located, but in the meantime the existing children's hospitals are at crisis point. What will happen these facilities in the coming years while we wait for the national children's hospital? This is a key issue for the delivery of paediatric services and health care in the short to medium term because there will be a delay regardless of what decision or recommendations are made by the Dolphin group.

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