Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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158. To ask the Minister for Health if all correspondence between his Department and the national paediatric hospital development board since 1 February 2019 will be provided. [40231/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) was established in 2007 under SI 246/2007.  The NPHDB has statutory responsibility for planning, designing, building and equipping the new children's hospital.  Correspondence between the NPHDB and my Department would encompass a range of matters in relation to the hospital, including for example funding, developments, updates and organisational matters as well as ongoing engagement on general issues and on, for instance, representations and Parliamentary Questions received in my Department.

While the precise extent of correspondence between the NPHDB and my Department is not presently quantified, it can be anticipated that the volume would be significant.  From a practical perspective, it would not be possible to arrange for the search, retrieval and compilation of the full extent of correspondence within the normal timeframe for response to Parliamentary Questions, nor to review the documents from the perspective of compliance with data protection principles.

I will be more than happy to respond to a request from the Deputy for correspondence on information of a more specific nature in relation to the NPHDB.