Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for taking the time out of his busy schedule to always come himself to talk with us. On balance Fianna Fáil welcomes the progress on the national children's hospital. I wish to mention a number of issues and I have some personal reservations.

I know the process transcends a different Administration.

When one reads the objections to the Mater Hospital proposal - I am not a trained planner but a humble auctioneer with some common sense - one could have written them in advance as being issues which would be raised by An Taisce and the Irish Georgian Society. They were the main objections which carried the day with An Bord Pleanála. I hope this time all of the ducks can be put in a line very quickly and that the Minister, or those in the Department who will manage the project, will proactively engage with Ian Lumley, the chief executive of An Taisce, members of the Irish Georgian Society and other stakeholders. They may hold the view we should be able to retrofit Georgian buildings to facilitate all possible wishes with regard to hospitals, which is obviously not practical, workable or cost effective.

We need to move much more quickly than we have. The Dolphin report was available in June and if we believe what we read in the media, we have had a five month wait since then. The Tánaiste was checking out the process to ensure he was happy with it before we could move forward. Serious doubts about the site have been raised. We all agree we want the hospital, and if St. James's Hospital is the site then so be it, let us get on with it and build it as quickly as we can. The official zoning of the site is unclear because of the court ruling. Earlier today I looked at some maps and it is very much a brownfield site rather than a greenfield site and this raises all types of issues. It is notionally possible that some brownfield sites may have listed buildings. If this were the case all of a sudden we would have far more interest from An Taisce, the Irish Georgian Society and other interest groups which can hold up processes. People may wish to pursue an agenda rather than facilitate the overall ambition of getting the hospital built as quickly as possible to start delivering the outcomes for which all of us yearn. It is a potential problem if the site is not sufficiently zoned.

In recent days the media reported the OPW highlighted in advance of the selection that serious challenges from a planning perspective and that the zoning was no longer clear. This puts a serious doubt over the timeframe. Presumably the project will go directly to An Bord Pleanála, which will be guided by the zoning of the day. Assuming Dublin City Council zones it appropriately to facilitate the building of the hospital as quickly as possible it may be open to challenge because the court judgment states it must go to public consultation. While the application will go directly to An Bord Pleanála it will consider it in line with the development plan of the day. If the development plan is amended to apply the relevant zoning, while it will not involve the planning authorities in Dublin City Council they will be cognisant of the development plan. The density to plot ratio of the project would be 4.5:1, but this is in contravention of the development plan for the area. Any potential objectors will have significant ammunition to shoot it down before we even start.

In putting his ducks in a line the Minister may not be able to consider the zoning issue only. He may also have to examine the possibility of Dublin City Council adjusting the density in the development plan for the area to progress the project. Otherwise it could be delayed for a significant period.

Building costs have changed in recent years. I have anecdotal evidence that the starting place for the HSE, when it considers the cost of building, is ¤200 per sq. ft. but from an auctioneering point of view, and my untrained view, it ought to be about ¤120 per sq. ft. Costs may be higher for a specialist build such as a hospital but it should not be 120% higher. Perhaps the Minister will reflect on the points that I have made. I wish him well in making a decision as quickly as possible.

Obviously leaving the maternity hospital on the never, never is not good enough. As the Minister has said, trilocation was mooted 19 years ago. If we put the maternity hospital on the never, never then my children will be grown by the time we realise the ambitions that the Minister and his predecessors have for the hospital.