New hospital will transform lives of children and Dublin 8 community

THE team behind one of the largest healthcare projects in Ireland have promised to ensure that the Dublin 8 community where the new National Children’s Hospital will be located will be considered as part of their plans.

Speaking as the planning application for the brand new children’s hospital was submitted to An Bord Pleanála last week, John Pollock, Project Director, said the project will have a transformational impact on the local Dublin 8 community.

“We are putting in place a programme to ensure that we maximise all potential opportunities that the hospital’s presence in this community can deliver,” he said.

“This is a central part of our work and we are determined that the hospital will not only have a lasting impact on the health and wellbeing of children and young people but also on the health and wellbeing of the Dublin 8 community.

“This has been a challenging and exciting process,” he added. “To have the opportunity to oversee the design and build a facility that will positively impact on the lives of children and their families for generations to come is quite overwhelming yet extremely rewarding.”

The plans submitted to the planning authority include those for the new children’s hospital as well as for the two paediatric and Urgent Care Satellite Centres for Tallaght and Connolly hospitals.

There were over 1,000 hours of engagement and consultation with staff from the existing three children’s hospitals, families, young people and children who are former or current users of the service, as well as with residents from the local Dublin 8 area. A central objective for the project is that there is an economic and social benefit for the Dublin 8 residential and business communities.

A study is being carried out to audit the existing skills and labour available in the area as part of a process that will identify the scale and type of educational and employment opportunities which will arise with both the construction and the operational phases of the hospital.

Deputy Catherine Byrne (FG) said the economic and social benefit for Dublin 8 was a key consideration for the new children’s hospital.

“I wholeheartedly support the children’s hospital project and its location on the St James’s Hospital site in Dublin 8,” she said. “It is great to see this project going to planning today.

“I know that some local people have concerns and I would like to see any remaining issues resolved in the proper manner through the planning process.

“However, we have been talking about the new children’s hospital for far too long and the children of Ireland deserve the world class facility proposed in this project. It is time to get it built.”

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF) also welcomed the development, describing it as a “landmark day for children’s medical care”.

“While I welcome the decision to locate the National Children’s Hospital in the area, I will study the planning application to see how the National Paediatric Development Board will deal with traffic management during and after construction in an area that is already struggling to cope with traffic jams and lack of parking.”

“This project is happening in one of the most disadvantaged communities in Ireland where unemployment, drugs, and low education attainment is rife and where many of the large scale collapsed, stalled or delayed social housing regeneration programmes are located.”