Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The children's hospital may be located in Dublin but it is a children's hospital for all of Ireland and sick children from Kerry who need specialist care will get that specialist care in that hospital. It will be one of the best in the world, with over 300 beds, individual rooms, rooms for parents to stay overnight, five MRI machines and 15 theatres. It is going to be a hospital of enormous value for all the country and we should never forget that when it comes to this debate.

As a result of the higher cost of building it, it will be necessary to reprofile capital expenditure and that means about €100 million will need to be found this year - €50 million from the Department of Health and €50 million divided across the other 15 or 16 Departments. It is being worked on at the moment by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as to where that is going to fall. We do not anticipate it requiring the cancellation of any projects but it does mean some projects may be delayed.

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