Minister for Health Mary Harney said she would decide on the location of the new National Children's Hospital.
"I will not give anyone the opportunity to say the Government is afraid to make difficult decisions such as this.
"I will consider the advice of the group which I have established, otherwise there would have been no point in putting such a group in place. It is composed equally between the Department of Health, the HSE and the OPW."
She was replying to Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte, who said that a new hospital was a complex project, even if it was to be a co-located one, and it might cost €500 million. Prof Brendan Drumm, of the HSE, was a paediatrician and he might be the driving force behind the project.
Mr Rabbitte asked if the decision would be made by Ms Harney, the Government or Prof Drumm. Ms Harney said that although Prof Drumm was a paediatrician, he was not involved in making decisions on the matter.
"Any suspicions to the contrary are incorrect."
Thanking the Tánaiste for her assurances, Mr Rabbitte said that he took them at face value. "Nobody I know has criticised the McKinsey report, and this is not the issue, because the merits of the report are accepted."
Mr Rabbitte said that the relocation of Temple Street Hospital had been worked on for five years. It had taken people by surprise that a presentation had been made on the contents of the McKinsey report on January 31st, with a deadline of March 2nd for tenders.
"This seems to be a highly unusual way to progress such a large project, and there is an inevitable connection with the suspicions to which the Tánaiste referred. Many people are a little bemused at the policy priority being given to this, welcome though it may be."
Ms Harney said that there were many priorities, but the cause of sick children was a major priority. She continued: "One need only visit Temple Street or Crumlin hospitals. Parents have told me that they do not care where the hospital is located; they just want a new hospital. Virtually every paediatrician I have spoken to has welcomed the fact that services will be brought together to provide a state-of-the-art facility for sick children."
She said that with a small population they could not have specialists dealing exclusively with children, and many would deal with transplants and surgery in adults.
"For this reason, and to aid research, a new children's hospital should be co-located with an adult hospital. Physicians could work on adults and children, research could be combined and synergy would result."
