Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

I listened carefully to the Minister's speech. She quoted what parents have said to her. She said they do not care where the hospital is located and that she should just make it happen. That is a crucial point.

I do not know the ins and outs of whether people can park beside the Mater hospital or whether they will not be able to park there in the future when this hospital is built. The key point is that we need a proper mobility plan and to ensure the hospital is as accessible as possible. We also need to ensure there is a hospital to access. That is a crucial point. There is no point having a hypothetical debate about access to a hospital which does not exist. If we do not get on with this project, we will not have a hospital.

The Minister said the hospital will provide secondary care for local children and that it is estimated 65% of the children attending will be from the Dublin region. I believe that means the remaining 35% will be from around the country and will attend for tertiary care. People said half an hour is crucial for a child. We are talking about tertiary care. We are not talking accident and emergency or primary care but about serious world class health care for children with serious difficulties.

The key issue is not necessarily the fact everyone must go to Dublin if faced with an accident and emergency situation but that children who are very sick have the best facilities in the world available on their door step. Ten minutes here or there will not make a difference in that regard. In an accident and emergency situation, it obviously would make a difference. In many tertiary care cases, ten minutes would not be crucial. If someone is coming from Donegal, he or she will not be able to get to the hospital ten minutes more quickly because of where it located.

People have suggested that the hospital should be based in Athlone because it is the most central place in the country. There is merit in that idea but we have gone down a particular route. Other people have suggested that the national paediatric hospital should be based in Galway, which I would like. I would like to see any national institution being based in Galway. There is more than land in Merlin Park, although I do not know the economics of such a proposal. Only recently people have suggested that given the difficulties faced by the developer, Bernard McNamara, it should be located at St. Vincent's Hospital where he owns facilities. Perhaps that is an opportunity. The key point is that we need to plough ahead with this project and not talk in hypothetical terms. We need these world class facilities.

I refer to a quote in the executive summary of the RKW report from the French philosopher and poet, Gaston Bachelard, who stated: "Even a minor event in the life of a child is an event of that child's world and thus a world event." I agree fully with that. In many ways, nothing is more important than how we cope with those who are most vulnerable in our society. It is up to our society to provide the best possible primary, secondary and tertiary care. As a father who has children in Galway, I am aware there are various facilities at primary and secondary care level in Galway which need to be improved as well, but the tertiary care facility, which is what we are talking about in this debate, not the 65% seeking secondary care, is to my mind the crucial part of this situation. I urge the Minister of State to give a guarantee that the tertiary care element of this hospital can proceed with as much haste as possible.

It is important not to consider this issue from the point of view of Dublin alone. With the great difficulties we are facing in terms of the budget, it must not be the case in the future that the standard of care and facilities for our children in place in other parts of the country are sacrificed to provide the best quality care facility in Dublin. We need to ensure we provide the best possible care in a very balanced way throughout the country. It should not be the case that if a child gets sick in Donegal or Kerry, he or she would be disadvantaged. We need to ensure the primary care facilities, which are being rolled out throughout the country, are very much linked to the secondary and tertiary care facilities.

There are seven key principles in the founding of the Green Party, one of which is that it is most important that everything is done at the lowest effective level. The key word there is "effective", that things are done effectively and properly. Primary care facilities can cater for many of the things that are being catered for in secondary care institutions. As is said, all boats rise together. It is important, therefore, that we ensure there is proper linkage among the various primary care teams which are being set up now and the secondary care facilities on a regional basis and, ultimately, with the tertiary care institution we are talking about, the national paediatric hospital, which it appears will only be 35% of the particular project.

The Minister said that €25 million to €30 million per year in operational savings would be made by putting this facility in place. It is crucial we proceed with it because we are in a very difficult budgetary situation. We have managed to build projects such as the Aviva Stadium and to redevelop Croke Park, we have various motorways around the country and there have been improvements in infrastructure in general, but in many ways there is nothing more crucial than this project. It is one of the last great projects that was mooted in the Celtic tiger era. It is crucial we follow through on it no matter what the financial situation is in the coming years. This facility should be number one among all facilities in this country. It is a prize worth fighting for and it is a project we should all get behind. If there are issues about access and transport, we need to work together to solve those and not get our knickers in a twist and say it should be here, there and everywhere and use the transport issue either as a means to beat the Minister or the Government over the head or as a political football. We need to resolve all the issues to ensure there is the best possible access for parents and children. Particular recognition should be given to those who travel from far away to ensure they are catered for and that parents and families are not left trying to find a parking spot and are delayed getting their sick child into the hospital. We need to address those issues but, more importantly, we need to proceed with this project.