Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----and sat through many presentations from people for and against the hospital's location. We must stop digging in, and I do not mean digging for the hospital. We need to get the hospital built as quickly as possible. There were many public meetings. I attended some at which the F2 Centre and the community were involved. An office was opened to ensure that the project team could relay people's concerns on a daily basis. Great work has been done, not only in the community, but where the project team has connected with schools and enticed young people to consider a different future in the health service. That is important for the Dublin 8 area. We all know it like the back of our hands. We have walked the steps of every flat complex and every house. The change in attitudes on doorsteps is significant. A site was chosen in an area that has seen a great deal of deprivation and educational disadvantage for many years. This is an opportunity, not just for all of the country's sick children, but for the Dublin 8 area and the wider inner city, which needs a new injection. As public representatives, we would all welcome that on the ground.

Regarding Senator Ardagh's comments, I cannot say more than I already have. The Senator asked about the project office's work with schools and the state of the project in Rialto. This hospital is going ahead. We are in the process. We have all seen the work that has been done on the ground. It is time that we pull our horns back in, put our hands together on this project and move forward. We should not turn it into a political football. Think of the most important people in all of this - the sick children whom we see on our television screens on a daily basis.

I will not go into why this site was chosen. The Senators know the reason. I do not want to comment on the reasons for yesterday's remarks by the CEO of the HSE. I wish to make a commitment to the Seanad, in particular those Senators who spoke this evening, that I will do everything I can in the Houses and the community to ensure that we have a hospital that will be one of the best in Europe and deal with the most sick children. I have spent time sleeping on the floor in Crumlin hospital with my own children. Last year, I spent time there with my ill grandson in a room in which I could not swing my two arms together. We need to put all of our focus on building a hospital that is the envy of the world.

When I spent some time in London three years ago, I had reason to visit Guy's Hospital. I was impressed by it and how it was situated in the heart of the community. Developing our national children's hospital will be one of the best things to ever happen to Dublin 8.

I take on board people's concerns about costs. I cannot answer them this evening because the cost details are set out in the business case and will be brought to the Government in the coming weeks. I cannot comment on media reports and speculation on the cost base in advance of that. I wish that I could, but I cannot. I am not in a position to do so.