TDs accused of scaremongering in children’s hospital row

Minister of State for Health Catherine Byrne has accused members of the Opposition of "jumping on the bandwagon and scaremongering" about the building of the National Children's Hospital at St James's Hospital in Dublin city centre.

Ms Byrne said TDs had plenty of opportunity to make objections to the co-location of the new hospital at St James's through the planning process and the oral hearing of An Bord Pleanála.

She said a lot of TDs speaking during the Rural Independents motion questioning the rising costs of siting the hospital in the city centre “didn’t even bother” to raise difficulties during the planning process.

A large number of parents from rural locations who sat in the visitors’ gallery, booed the Minister when she said “I don’t know where they’re coming from now”, the TDs who “are all of a sudden jumping on the bandwagon and scaremongering people”.

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Ms Byrne said she was “sick to my stomach” trying to understand that 12 years on “we are here again in the Dáil Chamber talking about the location and site of the new national children’s hospital”.

Parking concerns

She noted concerns about parking and said there would be a total of 1,000 – three times the current number at existing paediatric hospitals.

The hospital “will be for all of the sick children of Ireland and not just a particular cohort of people”.

Minister for Health Simon Harris had earlier acknowledged there was concern that every child in the Dublin area needing acute care would have to go to the St James's campus. "This is not the case. It is important to recognise that an integral part of the new children's hospital project is the development of the two satellite centres at Tallaght and Connolly hospitals."

He said: “Each centre is projected to deal with 25,000 urgent care attendances per annum, with urgent care delivered by consultants and staff of the new children’s hospital.”

Their strategic location in Tallaght on the south side of Dublin and Connolly in the northwest “is based on the projected population of families with children in the greater Dublin area”.

Mr Harris said the centre at Connolly hospital was scheduled to open at the end of 2018 and Tallaght at the beginning of 2019.

‘Wrong site’

Independent Mattie McGrath said he was “disappointed with the Minister of State” and claimed she had not answered any of their questions.

He said the Rural Independent Group put down a motion in good faith “because we believe the current site is the wrong site. We want to see a world-class children’s hospital built as soon as possible as well”.

Independent Clare TD and GP Michael Harty highlighted the almost trebling of costs for the hospital, €404 million in 2012 to approximately €1.1 billion and rising in 2017. They did not know what the eventual costs would be.

He said it would be less expensive to build on a Greenfield site. Dr Harty introduced the motion which calls on the Government to justify the costs related to construction and to consider co-locating the hospital with the new Rotunda Maternity Hospital.