Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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605. To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which plans and preparations are progressing in respect of the new children’s hospital; the extent to which previous plans costing in the region of €50 million will be superimposed on the new site, thereby making a considerable saving; if, at this stage, the full suite facilities required have been agreed; if site preparation is advancing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14673/15]

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, which sets out details of the specialties to be provided and the planned accommodation, has been approved. 384 inpatient beds are planned, all in single en-suite rooms with in-room parent accommodation. There will also be 85 day-care 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 the main hospital and the two satellite centres, as well as ED and urgent care facilities.

Site surveys and investigations have been completed, decant plans are being progressed, and a design team is 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.

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. Work undertaken for the project on that site, in particular development of activity projections and capacity requirements, development of functional requirements and decisions on workflow, adjacency planning and logistics, has been built on in developing the Project Brief for the hospital in its new location. 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.