Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Rural Independent Group a chuir an rún tábhachtach os ár gcomhair anocht.

Tá sé an-soiléir go bhfuil fadhbanna ollmhóra, serious concerns about the overspend on construction costs of the new national children's hospital. These costs, as we all know, represent an increase of 300% in the costs since the original tender.

It is shameful that the Minister for Health himself cannot be here tonight. It clearly shows the lack of respect towards rural Deputies in this House. We were elected to this House to represent our parts of this State as well and it is a disgrace that the Minister is not here to hear those concerns. I will be asking the Minister for a direct response because he represents all of the State, not only Dublin.

The public has expressed concern and outrage over the fact that the current cost of construction of the national children's hospital stands at €1.4 billion. This cost is rising and as has been pointed out here tonight, will not stop at €2 billion. The project represents the most dramatic and unprecedented cost escalation level for any single health project in the history of this State. That is some achievement.

The Minister for Health is responsible for that, whether he likes it or not. As has been pointed out here tonight, he took his eye off the ball. He got a fixation and he had an agenda. He wanted to push that agenda and he forgot about every other section in the health service, and we are seeing that day by day.

There are serious concerns over the possibility of not having a maternity hospital co-located with the national children's hospital as the plan now stands. Neither the Minister nor the Government has taken these concerns seriously and it is both unfair and unacceptable that many projects in rural areas will now suffer the consequences brought about by the Government's arrogance and failure to acknowledge that it made serious and unacceptable mistakes in respect of the national children's hospital project at St. James's.

Even at this late stage, I urge the Minister, and, indeed, the Government, to do the decent thing by the taxpayer, who has borne the brunt of this terrible mistake and the reckless and unacceptable choices the Government has made. The Government should do right by the children who need healthcare outside of Dublin. We must ensure that they have accessible healthcare.

An independent investigation to assess the viability and cost of retendering the project and transferring its location to a greenfield site should be carried out. I believe wholeheartedly that it is the fair way to proceed and we should not be proceeding when this has proven to be unsuccessful and detrimental.

This Government has shown itself to be arrogant and has clearly said "Slán" to proper, accessible healthcare for our children living in locations outside Dublin. That is outrageous and clearly shows how out of touch this Government is. It not only lacks common sense but also a vision for the country.

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