Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is the second day in a row that Senator MacSharry has raised the issue of the national children's hospital and has put a question mark over the project. Yesterday he told us that he was reliably informed off the record that the committee involved had been instructed not to spend any more money. I can reliably inform him on the record that yesterday was the first anniversary of the Government's announcement that the new national children's hospital would be located on the St. James's Hospital campus. The Minister for Health issued a detailed statement of progress that has been made to date, such as the appointment of the national children's hospital group, the appointment of a national paediatric development board, funding of €200 million for the project, the appointment this month of the CEO of the national children's hospital group, Ms Eilish Hardiman, the approval of the design brief, the start of the site decant at St. James's Hospital, as well as the start of preplanning application discussions.

The Government is also committed, in the environmental impact assessment, to examining the inclusion of a maternity hospital at the site. That will address the concerns of An Taisce. The Government is 100% committed to this major project. This national children's hospital is badly needed to care for sick children from across the country, not just those in Dublin. The raising of red herrings and putting question marks over the project will do it a disservice. I ask all sides of the House to fully commit to developing the project.