Eamonn Coghlan (Independent)

I welcome the €2.25 billion stimulus package announced yesterday by the Government and agree with Senator Norris's observation on the centralisation of the Dublin Institute of Technology in Grangegorman and the number of jobs that will create.

Senator Norris also mentioned the new paediatric hospital. The children's hospital in Crumlin was designed in 1936 and eventually opened 20 years later in 1956. Tallaght Hospital took 18 years from design until it opened. Over the past ten years or so, acrimonious debates on the new national paediatric hospital have taken place on the airwaves, in newspapers and in the Houses of the Oireachtas. A number of months ago, An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for the new children's hospital in the area of the Mater Hospital, for obvious reasons.

It was encouraging that the Minister for Health initiated a new task force to find a solution to this problem. I understood the task force was to report to the Cabinet by 25 May, which is almost two months ago, but so far no report has been made. I understand the task force received approximately 40 submissions and heard approximately 20 interest groups. Today, I learned it will be September before the task force reports to the Cabinet. If history repeats itself, it will be 2020 before we have a new national paediatric hospital.

Every year, 120,000 children go through Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin and approximately 60,000 children go through Temple Street Children's Hospital. Children's hospitals now have waiting lists. I think it would be appropriate to call on the Minister for Health, not to tell us the location of the new children's hospital but to explain the delay in presenting the report to the Cabinet.