John Crown (Independent)

I ask the Leader to ensure that the House is granted an opportunity to engage in a degree of debate and, hopefully, parliamentary oversight in respect of the development of the planned national children's hospital. Everyone in the House and people throughout the country will be aware of the greater than usual level of national scrutiny that has obtained in respect of this specific and much-needed health infrastructure project. We have been led to believe that there will be a formal announcement to the effect that the hospital development is to proceed on the Mater Hospital site. This will cause pain to people who had other plans and will mean relief and joy for those who support the Mater plan.

If the announcement to which I refer is made, it is essential that people should row in behind it and ensure that the hospital is built. There has been ample opportunity for public debate on this matter. It has been discussed by two Governments and several commissions. I must admit that I might have reached a different conclusion regarding what should be the disposition of tertiary paediatric and specialist paediatric services. However, there is a desperate need for the development to proceed. It is important to realise that the people who have articulated opposing points of view are generally very well motivated. These individuals are motivated by their own interpretation of where the development should take place and also, in many cases, not by self-interest but rather by a degree of loyalty to institutions they have helped develop - in very adverse budgetary and other circumstances - into centres which have achieved a level of expertise.

There are a number of facts of which Members should be made aware. Paediatric services in this country are desperately under-resourced. Constructing a new building will not fix the problem. The new building is needed. There is a joke to the effect that Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, should be called Our Lady's Children's Hospital, "Crumbling". This is because some of the physical plant it contains is so old. There is no doubt that new physical plant is needed.

A few facts must be borne in mind. In this Republic there are five paediatric general surgeons. In Northern Ireland, a jurisdiction the population of which is one third the size of our own, there are six such surgeons and in Scotland, the population of which is similar to that of the Republic, there are 22. Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, has 80 full-time equivalent consultants, whereas Birmingham Children's Hospital has 200 and the children's hospital in Denver, Colorado, has 800. The total number of staff in Crumlin is approximately 1,600 for a 250-bed complement. In Birmingham Children's Hospital, a similarly-sized facility, there are twice as many staff - over 3,000.

This information is important because it was alleged and suggested by members of the previous-----