Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this debate on the national children's hospital. I also welcome the decision that has been made. Regardless of what our opinions on sites were, we must move with all haste to build a children's hospital as soon as possible. It must be a priority.

For a number of years, there has been unanimity regarding the need for a hospital that would provide primary services for children from the Dublin area and tertiary services for children from the rest of the country. It was also the view that, while existing services were supported excellently by staff and parents, they were not up to standard and needed to be replaced by a new children's hospital.

I wish to ask about the timescale for the new development. It took approximately five years to establish that the project could not continue on the Mater hospital site. I hope that something similar will not recur. Will the Minister indicate the timelines for the development stages? He stated it could be 2018 before children would be cared for in the new hospital, but that is too far down the road. I hope and expect it will be done more quickly.

I wish to raise the issue of a maternity hospital. Priority was given to co-location with an adult hospital, but everyone accepts that tri-location should have been the real criterion. I was surprised and disappointed by the Minister's statement to the effect that a new national maternity hospital had been put on the backburner. Will he address this issue in his response? What is the timescale for the building of such a hospital and when will the preliminary work begin? Some people have suggested the maternity hospital aspect is so important that the new children's hospital should be built on the Coombe site. This indicates how concerned people are about a lack of tri-location.

A number of Deputies have raised another concern, namely, the Minister's opinions on Crumlin, Tallaght and Temple Street hospitals and how they will be upgraded, their services will be maintained and their standards will be improved so they can provide excellent services pending the construction of the new national children's hospital. I hope the Minister will assure the House that resources will be made available and that there will be no question of reducing resources to the existing hospitals prior to the new hospital opening.

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