Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Dolphin report, in looking at the proposal from St. James's Hospital, recommended that the site be larger than that proposed, thereby eliminating the proposal by St. James's Hospital for the maternity hospital at the Rialto end. The whole site will be developed as the national paediatric hospital. The Minister would be very conscious that the Coombe hospital is very old. We were both there recently and to my horror, I was brought from where the Minister spoke to Cork Street through very narrow ancient corridors.

It was very strange, so we must urgently address the need for the maternity hospital. I was delighted to hear the Minister say there is still a possibility of it on St. James's Hospital site. Will the Minister now encourage the board of St. James's Hospital to look afresh at its site with a view to relocating the planned maternity hospital there?

I will conclude with a question that has already been posed. Bishop Martin is the chairman of the board of Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin. That hospital will continue to function as a paediatric hospital until the new hospital is opened. Will the Minister engage with the Roman Catholic Church, which owns the site, with a view to seeing how we can accommodate the bishop in the delivery of other services such as senior health care, primary health care, care of the disabled and so forth on the site? It would be a shame to lose that site to developers or others in the future.

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