Varadkar abandons two-hospital plan

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has backed off a plan to apply for outline planning permission for a new maternity hospital at St James’s Hospital in Dublin at the same time as a planning application is lodged for the new national children’s hospital.

A week ago, Mr Varadkar asked the board developing the children’s hospital to investigate the feasibility of submitting planning applications for the two developments at the same time.

He made the suggestion on foot of a proposal by charity fundraiser Jonathan Irwin, who has campaigned vigorously against the siting of the children’s hospital at St James’s. Mr Irwin and other critics claim there isn’t enough space on the site to locate two major hospital developments.

Significant work

However the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board responded to the Minister by saying the work of submitting a planning application for a maternity hospital at St James’ would involve significant preparatory work.

The board said this could push back the submission of documents to An Bord Pleanála for both projects by six to nine months. This would mean missing its target date for filing the planning application for the much-delayed children’s hospital by next June.

“The Minister has no intention of introducing a delay to the children’s hospital project and accordingly does not intend to request the Board to seek planning permission for a maternity hospital at this stage,” said Kathleen Lynch, Minister of State in the Department of Health.

She told Seanad members the board intended to provide full information on all known future developments for the St James’s campus, including the maternity hospital, to An Bord Pleanála. This would enable the planning board to consider the application in the context of future plans for the site.

The priority was to ensure the children’s hospital was delivered on time, she said.

Mr Irwin, who is chief executive of the Jack & Jill Foundation for sick children, described the decision as a disaster.

“To hear today in the Seanad, in response to a question from Senator Eamonn Coghlan, that there is not enough time to seek planning permission for both the maternity and national children’s hospital is a disaster.”

Overdue

“Why not wait these extra six to nine months and do the planning application properly, instead of the loose arrangement to outline the plans for the maternity hospital but really what they’re doing is kicking the can down the road?”

The €650 million project is already years overdue after an earlier plan to build the hospital at the Mater hospital was rejected by An Bord Pleanála.

Any new maternity hospital would likely replace one of the three maternity hospitals in Dublin, but it is not clear at this stage whether this would be the Coombe Maternity Hospital or the Rotunda. The National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street is moving in 2019 to the St Vincent’s Hospital campus.