Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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80. To ask the Minister for Health the current position regarding the development plans for the national children’s hospital; the extent to which the project has been advanced to the next stage; the degree to which the actual space and related facilities have been agreed; when he will announce a starting date for on-site operations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2370/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is the statutory body responsible for planning, designing, building and equipping the new children's hospital. The new hospital will be co-located with St James's Hospital, and ultimately tri-located with a maternity hospital to be developed on campus. In addition to the main hospital, the project includes two satellite centres at the campuses of Tallaght and Connolly Hospitals.

The Development Board submitted the Project Brief to the Department of Health in May 2014 for the Minister’s consent and separately to the HSE for approval, in line with the approval process set out in the Board’s Establishment Order (SI 246 of 2007). Minister Reilly informed the Government on 1 July of his consent and HSE approval. The Project Brief 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.

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 the satellite centre sites at Connolly and Tallaght, in January 2016.