Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing me and my colleagues, Deputies Broughan and Costello, to raise on the Adjournment this important matter concerning the future of Temple Street children's hospital.

Temple Street children's hospital has a special place in the hearts of a great number of families throughout Ireland and especially on the north side of Dublin. Many parents are deeply grateful to Temple Street hospital for the role it has played in the health and the lives of their children. The medical, nursing and ancillary staff are outstanding and have coped extremely well in what are deplorable physical conditions.

After many years of promises a development plan was eventually finalised last year. This provided for a co-located child and adult hospital on the Mater hospital campus. To date, €50 million of public money has been spent on this development. Planning permission has been secured and much of the preparatory work has been completed. Funding of €400 million has even been allocated but, incredibly, the Minister has pulled the rug from the development at the last minute and has put the entire future of the hospital in jeopardy. All the carefully worked out plans have now been put on hold pending the major review. If the outcome of the review recommends a location other than the Mater site it will mean the effective closure of Temple Street children's hospital forever. It would be unthinkable for the north side of Dublin to lose the children's hospital.

The Mater campus is the ideal site, given its accessibility for private cars and its many public transport connections. This is essential to parents who need to bring a child to hospital in an emergency but also to the parents of many children with chronic illnesses who must attend hospital frequently and on an ongoing basis. The Mater campus can deliver the children's hospital speedily because of all the work that has already been undertaken. Most importantly, it is the optimum location because of the huge range of expertise that exists both in Temple Street and the Mater, and the fact that 30 of the 31 specialties are already provided from there.

Much party politics is involved in this matter, as well as medical politics. The goalposts have been changed to the disadvantage of Temple Street and decisions seem to be taken behind closed doors. The implications of a decision to recommend a location other than Temple Street, meaning the hospital will be lost, is beginning to dawn on people. Those on the north side of Dublin, the many families who are indebted to Temple Street and we as their public representatives will not tolerate that under any circumstances and we urge the Minister to give approval to the proposal from the Mater and Temple Street children's hospital.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Like Deputy Shortall, I am extremely concerned at the threat to the future of Temple Street children's hospital and I am committed to ensuring the hospital be retained and redeveloped on the Mater campus site that had been identified for it 20 years ago. Temple Street hospital has served the people of Dublin, not just on the north side, and the entire country very well for many generations. A brand new children's hospital was to be built on the grounds of the Mater hospital to replace the present old buildings. All the planning, design, tendering and funding arrangements were in place for the project to begin early in 2006. However, the project was put on hold by the Tánaiste and Minister and Health and Children at the 11th hour on 29 December 2005. Temple Street was forbidden to open the tenders and consultants McKinsey and Company were appointed to produce a report on best practice for a world class paediatric facility. At the end of January 2006 McKinsey and Company produced the report and a task force was set up under the aegis of the HSE and the Department of Health and Children to recommend the best location for the new paediatric hospital. A final decision will be made in a few weeks. My concern is that the decision has already been taken by the Minister for Health and Children and the HSE. The appointment of consultants and the task force is merely a smokescreen to give justification to a recommendation to locate the new children's hospital on the southside of Dublin, in or adjacent to the Tánaiste's constituency.

We cannot stand idly by while the northside is deprived of a world class facility in the best and most suitable location. Waiting lists are already five or six times what they are on the southside. Last night the Labour Party held a public meeting in the Teachers' Club to support the Temple Street project. The response was enthusiastic. This is the first step in a campaign to save Temple Street from the internal politics of the HSE and the Minister for Health and Children. Temple Street is the optimum location for the new hospital and its tradition must not be lost.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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The most disturbing aspect of this is that the redevelopment of Temple Street was put on hold for so long. It looked like it was making progress until the HSE report recommended that all paediatric surgery converge on one location. Some €46 million has been spent on redevelopment, planning and preparation for construction. My colleagues have referred to the Machiavellian manoeuvring between the Department of Health and Children, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, resulting in work on Temple Street grinding to a halt.

A few weeks ago the Minister issued a list of possible fines for incompetence and inefficiency in Irish hospitals. When can we fine the Minister for her performance in the Department? This also applies to the Taoiseach, in whose constituency Temple Street lies.

I heard the Minister on "The Late Late Show" proposing a single specialist utility for the entire country. A city of the magnitude of Dublin and the Leinster region would be best served by two facilities, one on the northside, one on the southside. Beaumont Hospital also proposed a plan for a northside children's hospital. All Dublin northside constituencies wish to retain the children's hospital at Temple Street, with access to top paediatric facilities at that location. We agree that a similar facility should be maintained for the southside.

I have heard that a decision is imminent. At last night's meeting I heard mothers from the northside who were highly agitated at the prospect of having to dash across the M50 through the infamous toll bridge. If a child suffers a seizure or an asthma attack, the key is getting the child to specialist assistance as soon as possible. Introducing problems of distance in the Dublin region is not the way forward. I appeal to the Minister of State, on behalf of the united Labour Party northside Deputies, that the decision regarding Temple Street be honoured.

I refer to the strategy published in 2001. Michael Kelly was involved in this, as was the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin. We expected an enhanced specialist site for the northside region, with high quality paediatric care.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I reply on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney.

The Mater and children's hospital development project was planned some years ago with a view to significantly improving the facilities for patients and staff at both hospitals. It was envisaged at that time that paediatric secondary and tertiary services could appropriately be provided at more than one location. However, it is clear from the recent McKinsey report that current best practice indicates that best outcomes for children should be provided by one national tertiary paediatric centre.

The McKinsey report was produced on foot of a request by the Tánaiste that the Health Service Executive undertake a review of tertiary paediatric services to ensure they are provided in the most efficient and effective manner. This request was made in the context of the decision to be taken on the possible relocation of the facilities at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin. Following the Tánaiste's request, the HSE engaged a team of management consultants, McKinsey and Company, to provide a report on the strategy organisation of tertiary paediatric services.

The HSE published the McKinsey report on 3 February 2006. The report recommends that best outcomes for children should be provided by one national tertiary paediatric centre, which would also provide all secondary paediatric services for the greater Dublin area. The report recommended that these secondary services would be supported by strategically located accident and emergency facilities. The report also recommended that ideally the new facility should be located on the site of, or adjacent to, a major adult teaching hospital in order to achieve the maximum service benefit for children.

Arising from the report's recommendations, a joint HSE and Department of Health and Children task group was established to progress matters and to advise on the optimal location for the new facility. The group has received proposals from all of the major Dublin teaching hospitals to accommodate the new children's hospital. It has also received proposals from a number of private sector interest groups and the report is expected in early April.

When a decision has been taken on the new tertiary paediatric facility, the HSE will examine the organisational arrangements necessary to progress the development, including arrangements for the provision of paediatric accident and emergency services. The work and recommendations of the task group clearly have implications for all three Dublin children's hospitals, including the Children's University Hospital, Temple Street. The Tánaiste's primary concern is to ensure the solution arrived at is in the best interests of children.