A consultancy report on the development of hospital services for children will be published today, Minister for Health Mary Harney promised in the Dáil.
A planned €500 million redevelopment of the Mater hospital complex, including a new children's hospital to replace Temple Street, was put on hold pending a review by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health on the development of complex paediatric services.
Ms Harney pointed out, however, that "there are four hospitals in Dublin from which tertiary paediatric facilities are supplied to children from all over the country. I do not believe there is any other place in the world with a similar population that has tertiary facilities spread across four sites. In the context of the future health care of children, clearly the right decision must be made."
The HSE, which commissioned the consultancy report with the Minister's approval, received it on Wednesday and discussed it at a board meeting yesterday. Ms Harney said she was to be briefed on the issue later yesterday evening and would publish the report today.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had asked when the issue would be cleared up because some €45 million had been spent "on the preparation of site works and buildings for the move from Temple Street to the Mater hospital site".
Had the issue "been shoved over to the HSE to make what is essentially a policy decision", he asked.
Insisting that there was no question of money being wasted on a new hospital, Ms Harney said the development of the Mater was essential as it was one of the country's oldest hospitals.
She stressed that "the right decisions must be made" and rejected a comment by Labour TD Joe Costello (Dublin Central) that "it's somewhat late in the day to be recognising that".
The Minister said that "what was proposed was a new hospital for Crumlin costing €400 million and one for Temple Street, which would cost another €200 million. It might well be that we can get the right answer for much less."
Later Mr Costello said there were rumours that a new children's hospital would be built on a greenfield site in Ms Harney's constituency. He said it was "unconscionable" that business would be conducted in this manner.
Seán Ryan (Lab, Dublin North) said children were being treated in Victorian conditions and were also being treated as "pawns" because of delays in building the hospital, which had been promised for 25 years.
Minister of State Brian Lenihan said that the project for the redevelopment of the Mater including a new hospital to replace Temple Street was ready to go to tender.
In the light of the separate issue of Our Lady's hospital in Crumlin, a review of specialised or tertiary paediatric services was undertaken. With the completion of the consultancy report, the department and the HSE would now have discussions to see how the project would proceed, Mr Lenihan said.
