Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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566. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide an update regarding the construction of the national children's hospital; his views on concerns regarding delays in constructing the hospital and the impact this is having on treating patients; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14445/15]

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 Project Brief has now been completed and approved. 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 is now working on detailed design development with planning submission scheduled for June 2015. Subject to planning, work is scheduled to commence at the main site at St. James's, and at satellite centre sites at Connolly and Tallaght, in January 2016. Transition of services to the new hospital is expected to begin in April 2019, and to the satellite centres in 2017. Until then, paediatric services will continue to be provided at Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin, Children's University Hospital Temple Street and at Tallaght Hospital, which are working together as the Children's Hospital Group towards the operational integration of the three existing children's hospital services well in advance of their move to the new hospital.