Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I remain committed to providing the best standard of complex hospital care for children in Ireland and I am confident that this objective will be met.

The National Paediatric Development Board has commenced the planning process for the new hospital directly with An Bórd Pleanála on 11 October 2010 and the completion date for construction of the hospital is the last quarter of 2014.

I have every confidence in the National Paediatric Board and its new Chairman who has experience and expertise in the areas of project delivery and also philanthropic funding and that the Board will press ahead with work on the development. The new children's hospital will play a central role in an integrated network of paediatric services across Ireland. This development will fundamentally change and improve the provision of paediatric health care in Ireland because merging the three existing hospitals (at Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght) into a single hospital structure will ensure a critical mass of specialised skills to provide highly complex treatment and care to sick children. The decision to provide ambulatory and emergency care services at Tallaght is based on recommendations made in the reports of McKinsey and Co (2006) and international health service consultants, RKW (2007).

The Ambulatory and Urgent Care Centre at Tallaght will provide emergency and elective ambulatory health care services to the local population. It will also provide day care services (both medical and surgical) through 28 day care beds, 3 operating theatres and 2 procedure rooms. Outpatient services will be provided through 26 consulting examination rooms. The Urgent Care Centre will also provide emergency care services for the local population of children. It is expected that the centre will be completed before the end of 2013.