Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach has said a lot there. We have a chance now to go back, re-evaluate and stall. The St. James's site was once described in a Department of Health briefing note as "the least worst option for delivery of this priority project”. Will the Taoiseach commit to meet Dr. James Sheehan, Dr. Fin Breathnach and others? Will he sit down in a room with them and talk to them at this stage, while BAM has offered the breathing space?

Relocating the children’s hospital is not just about saving hundreds of millions of euro in taxpayers' money. It is first and foremost about saving children’s lives. They must be the most important people of all. One of the most appalling aspects of this entire tragedy is the lack of capacity to develop a co-located maternity hospital. That is now not going to happen. The Taoiseach knows that - if he knew anything about the whole - and if he went back to school he could add up the sums. The maths just do not add up. It will not happen. This is not in keeping with international best practice and it will absolutely result in avoidable deaths in a few babies and significant disability and handicap in many other babies over the decades.

Professor Chris Fitzpatrick, an obstetrician and former master of the Coombe hospital, says maternity services co-location at St. James's Hospital is pie in the sky. Will the Taoiseach listen to him? Will he listen to anyone? There is none so deaf as those who do not want to hear. This is perhaps the most urgent reason to reassess and consider moving to a site which will permit co-location with a maternity hospital, which is vital but it will not happen at St. James's Hospital. I again appeal to the Taoiseach to do the right thing and stop the project until a full re-evaluation is carried out by experts, not PwC, which knows nothing about construction or issues like it. We need outside experts to tell us the very truth about what happened.

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