New paediatric hospital will cost between €800m and €1bn

THE PLANNED new national paediatric hospital could cost between €800 million and €1 billion to construct, according to internal documents produced by the board established by the Government to develop the facility.

The Irish Times has learned that, last September, the chairman of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, Philip Lynch, told the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, that it wanted to obtain a clear commitment from the Government “to provide the scale of funding of the order of €800 million to €1 billion for the capital element”.

He said that this matter was of fundamental concern to the board.

Following a meeting with Ms Harney in November, Mr Lynch wrote to the Department of Health to confirm that both sides were agreed that the estimate for the new children’s hospital was €800 million but that every effort would be made to deliver it for less than that price.

“Where possible, the board will pursue the possibility of obtaining funding from philanthropic interests including any contribution from the sale of the Crumlin site.

“However, it was equally re-assuring to hear that the Government would fund the Children’s Hospital without such philanthropic contributions,” he said.

On November 21st last the Minister told the board that the provision of a world-class hospital for the children of Ireland was one of her top capital priorities.

“I want to reiterate the assurance that I have already given that the level of capital funding required from the exchequer to develop the new hospital will be provided by the Government,” she said.

“I also want to acknowledge the prospect of the board securing significant funding from philanthropic interests towards the cost of the development,” she added.

The planned development of a new unified national paediatric hospital on a site at the Mater Hospital in Dublin has been one of the most controversial decisions in healthcare in the Republic in recent years.

Under plans which were approved by the Cabinet in June 2006, the three existing paediatric hospitals in Dublin – Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght – would move to the new facility at the Mater site.

However, staff at Crumlin have been extremely unhappy at the decision to locate the new hospital at the Mater.

They have argued that the new facility should be developed on a greenfield site, preferably alongside a maternity hospital.

Critics of the Mater site have also contended that it is too small and would be badly affected by traffic congestion.

However, the Government and the Health Service Executive (HSE) have insisted that the new children’s hospital should be developed at the site.

It has been suggested that construction on the new hospital could get under way in 2009 and be completed by the end of 2012.

Planning permission has yet to be sought for the development.

Original estimates put the cost of the new hospital at around €500 million.