A HEALTHCARE group has said it could build the proposed national paediatric hospital on a greenfield site in Swords by as early as 2016 at that location for less than the €650 million budget.
The Broadmeadow Healthcare Group has proposed a 50-acre site at Lissenhall, Swords, as a site for the children’s hospital after An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission to build the hospital at the existing Mater hospital site in Dublin in February.
Minister for Health James Reilly said the submission would be considered along with others by a review group appointed by the Minister in March.
“This is a matter for the review group, with Dr [Frank] Dolphin, and all matters will be considered by them and they’ll present a report to myself, which I’ll bring to Cabinet and Cabinet will take a view at that point,” he said.
The children’s hospital review group is looking at more than 15 sites, including the site at the Mater hospital.
An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for the proposal of a new children’s hospital for the Mater hospital site in Dublin in February on the grounds that its height, bulk, scale and mass would have a “profound negative impact” on Dublin’s skyline.
The Minister was speaking at the opening of a new €35 million 200-bed mental health and care facility for older people in the Highfield Healthcare, which provides specialist care to the elderly, in Whitehall, Dublin.
The facility consists of 100 mental health beds, 90 nursing home beds and a 10-bed unit, specifically designed to provide acute adult psychiatric care, bringing the total number of beds to 313.
Stephen Eustace, chief executive of Highfield Healthcare, said the new facility had created an extra 100 jobs, bringing the total workforce to 300.