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

-----about where the new hospital should be located. Everyone had a different view, including planning experts, doctors, paediatricians, developers, you name it, on St. James's, the Mater, Tallaght, Beaumont, Blanchardstown, a site not co-located with an adult hospital at Newlands Road and another site by Belcamp near the M1. There was never consensus among doctors, planners or anyone as to where the best site should be. In 2012 the Government took a decision that the site should be Dublin 8 at St. James's Hospital, with satellite centres in Blanchardstown and Tallaght. In doing so the Government listened to the expert group chaired by Dr. Frank Dolphin. On that expert group were planners, developers, paediatricians and people who knew about building hospitals and where they should be located. It was always acknowledged that it would be quicker and cheaper to build it on a greenfield site. Nobody every doubted that. The decision was made in favour of St. James's, on the advice of the expert group chaired by Dr. Frank Dolphin, because of the advantages of co-location with an adult hospital and a maternity hospital. The advantages are that the hospital would be the biggest one in the State with the most advanced specialties and the most advanced opportunities for academic links and clinical research. This is why the decision was made. Yes, it would have been quicker and cheaper to build on a greenfield site - nobody ever argued otherwise - but it would not have been better. When deciding to build a project like this, which will stand the test of time and will still be used by children in 100 and 150 years, one makes the right decision, not the cheapest or quickest decision. This is why that decision was made.

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