A new study of travel times to three Dublin hospitals which wanted to be chosen as the location for the new national children's hospital has found Tallaght hospital would be the quickest to get to for most people travelling by car from around the State.
The study found this hospital was the most accessible for 73.5 per cent of 0-15 year olds and for 64 per cent of women of childbearing age who would be travelling to Dublin from across the State.
The research was commissioned by the board of Tallaght hospital, which is gravely disappointed at the Government's decision to site the new children's hospital at the Mater hospital. It was conducted by two researchers based at Trinity College Dublin: Dr Enda Murphy, research fellow at the department of mechanical and manufacturing engineering; and Dr James Killen of the geography department.
Dr Murphy stressed that he and his colleague were commissioned as "independent researchers".
He said their findings raised questions about the decision to site the new hospital at the Mater. "What I would say is that in terms of accessibility it does raise questions about the decision, but it's important to remember there were other mitigating factors in terms of the location of the new children's hospital at the Mater and accessibility was only one of those. I'm not an expert in any of the other areas so I can't comment on them," he said.
A taskforce representative of the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive made the decision to site the new hospital at the Mater.
In its report, later endorsed by the Cabinet, it said Tallaght hospital was ruled out of the competition along with St Vincent's and Blanchardstown hospitals before access became a key factor because it did not have the same depth of specialities as Beaumont, St James's and the Mater.
Beaumont was then ruled out because of accessibility but the report said "there was no significant difference" between the Mater and St James's in terms of ease of access.
Ultimately, it was decided the new hospital could be built faster at the Mater.
Dr Murphy said the latest study found the Mater to be the most accessible location for people travelling by car from around Dublin, followed by Tallaght and St James's. Congestion was taken into account.
The study also found that, for people travelling by public transport, St James's was the most accessible location.