Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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688. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the children's hospital; if Blanchardstown, Dublin, may yet be considered as the site for the new hospital; the work completed to date and scheduled; if he will provide a detailed breakdown of the spend to date and the budget to be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41494/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am happy to confirm to the Deputy that Connolly Hospital has already been considered as a location for the new children's hospital. Following the refusal of planning permission for the new children's hospital at the Mater campus in February 2012, the Minister for Health established a review group under the chairmanship of Dr Frank Dolphin to consider next steps. Connolly Hospital was one of a number of Dublin hospitals invited to make a submission to the Dolphin Group as a possible co-location partner for the children's hospital. The Dolphin Group considered all submissions and reported to the Minister for Health in June 2012. Its report was published on the website of the Department of Health in November 2012, following the Government's decision of 6 November 2012 that the children's hospital would be co-located with St. James's on its campus.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) has statutory responsibility for the building of the hospital. Since the decision to locate the hospital at the St. James's campus, the Board has undertaken a range of work including decant planning; site surveys and investigations; design team procurement; and review and update of the Project Brief to take account of the new site. The Board has also begun pre-application planning consultations. The Project Brief has now been completed and approved, and a design team has been procured and is working on detailed design development, with the aim of submitting a planning application in June 2015. Subject to planning, work will commence at the main site at St. James's, and at satellite centre sites at Connolly and Tallaght, in January 2016. Re-opening the Government's decision on the location of the new hospital at this stage would mean pausing design development, delaying the project, adding to the costs and time involved and leaving children waiting even longer for this new facility. I do not intend to do this.

Approximately €39m was spent in the previous phase of this project at the Mater campus. This expenditure is shown in the Board's 2012 accounts, which have been laid before the Oireachtas. In 2013, the Board advises it recorded expenditure of the order of €1.7m with a similar amount having been spent in 2014 to date. Minister Howlin has committed to making €200m available from the sale of the National Lottery for the new children's hospital, adding to the existing €450m Exchequer funding and underlining the Government's commitment to the project. Current estimates are that the core hospital, including both satellite centres, will be delivered within this envelope. This includes provision for inflation, VAT and contingencies; it does not include equipment or ICT which can be purchased, licensed or leased separately. Philanthropic and commercial funding streams will be targeted as appropriate for supporting elements of the project to include car parking, academic and research facilities, and estimates will be reviewed and refined at each stage of the project.