The Tallaght Hospital Action Group yesterday called for the urgent establishment of an international medical expert group, independent of the State, to review the decision to locate the new children's hospital on the Mater hospital site.
The group said it hoped to convince the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Government of the need to locate a hospital on both the north and south sides of Dublin. The National Children's Hospital is located at Tallaght hospital, but the review group charged with selecting a location for a new children's hospital said Tallaght did not have the breadth of services required, including neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery, burns and spinal injuries.
Spokesman for the Tallaght Hospital Action Group Ritchie O'Reilly yesterday claimed the review group had treated Tallaght hospital "unfairly" during the selection process.
"Some members of the HSE never had much faith in the hospital . . . we feel they never had much time for Tallaght hospital," he said. "We believe that the people on the northside deserve a hospital as much as the people on the southside. We should put politics aside for the good of children." The group said it was confident it had met all nine criteria required for the new children's hospital and accused the Government and HSE of playing to the Taoiseach's constituency concerns at a time of low Government ratings.
Mr O'Reilly said an international expert group, working with the original review group, would observe that a new hospital on the Mater site would effectively be nine storeys high due to space constraints.