Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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216. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the finalisation of the preparations for the proposed new children's hospital; if savings have been made arising from previous proposals and planning applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43432/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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On 10 August 2015 the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) submitted a planning application for the new hospital and satellite centres to An Bord Pleanála. The oral hearings for the new children’s hospital began on 30 November.

Much of the work undertaken for the project on the Mater site was transferable to the project in its new location. This includes in particular development of activity projections and capacity requirements, development of functional requirements, and decisions on workflow, adjacency planning and logistics. This work has been built on in developing the preliminary Project Brief for the hospital on the St James' campus, which was approved in 2014 and which set out details of the specialties to be provided and the planned accommodation.

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 early 2016.