Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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375. To ask the Minister for Health the progress made on the development of the National Children's Hospital since the selection of the site at St James, Dublin 8, in autumn 2012; the timeframe for the next steps in the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48900/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The new children's hospital will be co-located with St James's Hospital, and ultimately tri-located with a maternity hospital to be developed on campus. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is the statutory body responsible for planning, designing, building and equipping the new children's hospital. Since the decision to locate the hospital at the St. James's campus, the Board's initial focus was on 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 revised Project Brief also took account of the outcome of a review of the location, model and number of urgent care centres which was undertaken in 2013. Following that review, which involved significant consultation with the relevant stakeholders, it was decided that satellite centres, which will share governance and staffing with the new children's hospital, will be built on the campuses of Tallaght and Connolly Hospitals.

The Project Brief was approved in June 2014 and sets out details of the specialties to be provided and the planned accommodation. This will include 384 in-patient beds, all in single en-suite rooms with in-room parent accommodation, a further 85 daycare beds and 14 theatres, including three hybrid theatres to facilitate access to imaging during surgery, all in the main hospital. There will be 111 outpatient consulting examination rooms across both the main hospital and the two satellite centres, as well as ED and urgent care facilities.

The design team is now 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.