I vote M50 but I mean near m50 where it would be accessible from all regions of the country.

A paediatric hospital should be built beside a maternity hospital not a general hospital….hundreds of newborns are transferred with life threatening condition and time is wasted for them and doctors spend a lot of time going between hospitals to see patients before and after treatments. In the USA all general hospitals have maternity hospitals so this was a very inaccurate comparsion to our healthcare system! Many babies with antenatally diagnosed conditions are from all of corners of Ireland are brought to the Coombe to be delivered and then transferred to OLCH after birth…..there is no room for a maternity section in the Mater site…..both the Coombe and Holles St need to be relocated so a greenfield site with both a Womens hospital and Childrens makes more sense…..I speak from both US and Irish nursing experience!!

Near the m50 would have been a better option Gavin

Anyone who attends the Mater hospital is alarmingly aware of the utter mayhem that exits on every thoroughfare leading up to it. To think that any sane person could propose these premises as a suitable allocation for further extensive development,is simply crazy. Is planning and doing the right thing simply beyond us,a suitable place can be had,it just takes the will and desire to do what’s right for a change.

The City West hotel which is in Receivership has 1400 bedrooms, already built and going to waste. The Children’s hospital is looking for about 400 single wards, the Reception rooms could be converted to Operating theatres etc, kitchens etc are already there, the number of wards could be increased as required and a new adult hospital could be achieved by cconverting some or all of the remaining rooms.
The cost must be minimal compared to a new build, the hospital could easily be ready in one year and all would be happy.
This must be a no brainer
Regards
Paddy Dervan

Was the mater site decided upon by an independent group early on this year.

It was decided by Mary Barney and James Reilly so people cannot blame one party over the other

Get it built it is needed NOW

I live 10 miles or so from Crumlin. A couple of years ago my son fell. It wasn’t serious enough for an ambulance but needed attention, so we put him in the car to go to OLCH. The ten miles took over 45 minutes in the early evening. My son was vomiting, I was panicking, and that 45 minutes felt like hours. Putting the children’s hospital in the city centre makes NO SENSE whatsoever.

Dublin is unfortunately a necessity due to the bulk of the resources and specialists being here, but the city centre should never have even been considered. It’s utterly ridiculous. It has to be somewhere like Tallaght. Off M50, the west of Dublin so accessible to whole country, plenty of public transport, beside existing hospital.

It makes me so angry to think of the stressful journeys parents would have to make into town. I’ll never forget that drive to Crumlin, and it was only a small cut to the head, thank god. Anything more serious and every second counts. When is common sense going to start to prevail in this country???

All that was required of politicians was to listen to the people for once.
But typical Bertie Ahern and FF Mafia politics they were ignored.He promised this hospital to his former employer who is the “Head Honcho” in the Mather Hospital and to hell with the suffering children.When will we as a decent group of people (The Irish) ever be rid of this Blight called Ahern.
In his own words and its on the record “You Will Get Your Hospital”.
Disgraceful

There was a sign up at Newland’s X, opposite Joels for about a year saying the site was suitable for the children’s hospital.

It should go there. Easy access to major motorways into and out of dublin, fluid transport movement.

Bewleys across the road, petrol stations nearby, Tallaght not far for more amenities.

Somewhere close to M50, but very close to mainline rail. Should have its own station.

did the Heavy-Rae’s not get this for Kenmare yet? Life must be tough when you can’t hold a government to ransom…

As someone who works in healthcare in both a -hospital and intra-hospital capacity I think it is the completely wrong site.

Dorset st and NCR are gridlocked most of the day, try getting down there in a hurry, even in an ambulance with your lights and sirens on is a severe challenge at times and is not what you want with a time critical patient on board.

What about severely ill children transferred from other parts of the country by helicopter, a helipad on top of a 16 storey building will either not be allowed or severely restricted, resulting in it being a waste of time and money. They will still be flown to Baldonnel, put on an ambulance and escorted by the Gardai.

Where are parents and staff going to park? When my mother was critically ill in the mater we spent a fortune on parking, approx €20 a day!

Children are just that, children! They need to be able to go outside and play, play is a huge part of childrens healthcare, what are they going to do, put a set of swings on a balcony? I don’t think so.

Put it on a large green field site outside of the M50 ring. Have it low density, low rise, with room for expansion. Plenty of space for parking, helicopter transfers, easy access to m50, large play areas for the children etc.

But hey I’m only a shopfloor worker since when did my opinion ever count

A green site off the M50 may work would have to be accessed via one of the freeflow junctions as ambulances can get stuck on slip roads, there’s no where for cars to go to get out of the way. However, I would hate to see Crumlin, Tallaght & Temple Street closed when this new hospital is open which I’m sure is the plan! It will likely increase the transport time in a lot of cases, where time is a matter of life & death.

A national children’s hospital that only people in Dublin have good access too. That sounds fair :/

I wonder did the panel realise that public transport goes OUT from the city too. A greenfield site near the M50 would allow equal access to people in Dublin and people from outside.

It should be just outside Dublin on a greenfield site where everyone can get easy access

Build it outside the city area altogether in a green belt area and have a reasonable frequency bus or rail service nearby, Naas sallins Kildare etc

From dub., living mid west. Currently dealing with Mater hospital… A nightmare to get there and I am an adult who knows Dub., well. A green site possibly off M50 which is close to tallaght hosp., etc. It should never have been planned in the area…. Political decisions…..

Build it somewhere that there is ample parking and not the chaos we see now at most hospitals. The hospital is a place where people are going usually in great distress and it should be given priority that it can be accessed easily and parking for free,

near the M50 but with access to rail – ie either Luas (Tallaght) or commuter rail (Leixlip or Maynooth)

I always thought the idea of a multi-storey children’s hospital was completely mad. To me it should be mostly one or two-storey with lots of space for expansion, good car parking and transport links and beautiful grounds to help children recover.

a site in citywest would be ideal. easily accessible from many road leading to Dublin and is also serviced by public transport.

It does have to be built in Dublin because that is where the other specialities are. You cannot have the cardiothoracic, plastic, neurosurgeons driving an hour to Athlone twice or three times a day! They are over stretched without enough hours in the day. Yes near the M50 is better but it does have to be Dublin and we do need it. Kids in Temple st have limited access to cardio and none to GI. Kids in crumlin have no proper access to developmental or general paeds. We need it somewhere in Dublin.

The site was a non runner from the start..
That said,is there even one member of this Government with the balls to stand up and be counted..
Green Site of the M50 with transport infrastructure..
Just get of your fucking useless backsides and build it.
For once do the right thing.

What nobody here seems to be considering is that this is not a brand new hospital. It is the relocation and collation of two existing hospitals which are already staffed. Every member of staff in Crumlin and temple st will be relocating and, therefore, will need to be able to get to work! If suggestions to locate the hospital in athlone or other parts of the country were followed the majority of drs, nurses, etc would not be able to work there! A hospital is not just a building, people, it is the staff and their expertise as well. Lose this and you don’t have a national children’s hospital.

hi, having spent time travelling from galway to crumlin children s hospital , and having met parent of sick children from all over the country there i have some idea of the difficulties people encounter.
1.its expensive having children in hospital – basically running two houses, so take this hospital out of the city center to a green field site where i can go for a walk – but not through a shopping center!-
2.. to somewhere with adequate parking for staff and patients.
3.a low level building that has access to outside ares with the maximum use of light and space – so you don’t feel cooped up in a room only seeing the sky .
3.to somewhere with ALL departments on the same site – so you don’t have to travel between sites for tests and clinics.
4.and most importantly to a site which is accessible by road – for ambulance and car – and at the end of the luas/dart for public transport – one assumes Dublin bus would put on a service wherever the hospital gets built.
and also please separate the babies/toddlers and the adolescent services remember this hospital will serve those from 0-16 yrs of age
thank you.

I personally would build it on the site of the proposed U2 Tower. Would be very handy for me. But taking into account the world doesn’t revolve around me, maybe build it inside the Spire. I mean what the hell is in there only wasted space…

It come to mind that Talaght Hospisal has the required credentials.
a) Teacher Training Hospital
b) Good Road connectivity
c) Good public transport.
d) Land surrounding the hospital (ppp hospital not being built there now.
e) Near Tallaght Town centre where the skyline is already over 8 stories high.
f) Already has a childrens hospital.
g) One of the most efficient hospitals patient/euro in the country, that is the reason that it has been receiving bad press in relation to reports and AE practice.
h) I do not leave near there now but did have a couple of operations to fix up a broken leg. It was clean, and airy even though it was busy.
i) It would be a lot more cost effective in both the short and long term than any other site suggested here to for.

Near the m50 but would point out that public transport is essential as is a safe area. My Mum was in Tallaght for a week. I was the only one that was wooing to get the luas. Its a hole and dangerous. I shouldn’t need to point out public transport but this is Ireland after all…

The Anglo Irish bank unfinished site on the banks of the Liffey , could be redeveloped quite quickly. Plenty of routes via the port tunnel and the Luas Dart etc close by.

The reason I vote for the
Mater site was because of access to all the clinical facilities of a long established hospital and experts. But I agree the access is terrible . Off m50 would be better

This is not a new hospital. It is the relocation and co-location of two existing hospitals. The vast majority of staff who work in Crumlin and temple st live in Dublin. If this hospital were built somewhere like athlone then it would open with very little staff. These people have extensive expertise and experience in looking after very sick children. Without these drs, nurses, physios etc you will not have a national children’s hospital. A hospital is much more than a building, it is also the staff who work there. These people are amazing but even they probably won’t be willing to commute to athlone or portlaoise for work!

There are vast swathes of lands available in the Cherrywood area, it adjoins the M50, is served by the LUAS, ( which in the future will link with Bray Dart and Rail station) area is also served by Bus,

Unfortunately the children of Ireland have been let down by this Government and previous administrations. The National Children’s Hospital should never have been muted for the Mater site in the first place. A site near the M50 would have made much more sense for serving children from all parts of the country.

Maybe somewhere near swords just off M50 and M1 easy to access from road bus or train

I suggest the Government buy the site adjacent the O2 from Dublin Port- its beside the Port Tunnel, linking directly to M50, and also benefits from the Luas stop. It’s spacious, and would afford sea and river views to the children.

I still think that somewhere in Dublin would be the best option due to the population, it also needs dedicated shuttle service from all of the major stations and the City centre & a few park and ride stations.

The matter site is cramped and Eccles Street is a nightmare due to the worst drivers in the whole of Ireland driving up that street. The NCR is a major traffic jam in rush hour also at the best of times so this in it’s self makes the Matter Site a ridiculous option.

Well of course in an ideal world we’d all have one in our backyard just in case! All I care about is that regardless of location that the interest of the children’s health comes first that the services provided to them are made available to them in time of need.

Its supposed to be new national hospital so I would be inclined to think that away from current location and built near the M50 purely based on a number of things it should be a center of excellence thus housing nearly all facilitates/services/expertise required to help children recover from ill health

It should be in a location where there is more room for future development I don’t know anything about about the current location but if its near the city center I assume development in future could pose a problem!

If traveling and transport cause problems regardless of location its a very small price to pay for the comfort of knowing that your child is being looked after!

This subject obviously stirs up [ and rightly so!] a lot of debate. I personally think it should be located OUTSIDE of Dublin, perhaps somewhere like Athlone. For the commenters who moan that they would have to travel down from Dublin to Athlone, well, what about us folk in Tipperary etc. Everything seems to centre around Dublin. It’s supposed to be for the benefit of the whole country. Even during the Celtic Tiger days it seemed to pass by most other areas outside of Dublin, especially in the rural parts. Most of our roads down here are still like pot-holed farm tracks.

I have always thought the Mater site was wrong but we need to remember a few simple facts 1. Not everyone drives or has access to a car . 2. we must have an excellent direct public transport service to wherever this hospital is sited. at a reasonable cost. 3. We also need other facalities near by i.e Reasonable priced. Accomadation, shops Cinema, Restraurant/Cafe maybe even a park. Parents need to be able to unwind if their child is staying in hospital long term.

The M50 site is close to Tallaght Hospital and possibly have a private link road between them, no problem for staff to move between each facility. Also the Bertie Bowl site is vacant and is beside James Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, Its also on the M50, and that site is already owned by the state. Joined up thinking required but will it happen?.

The health care of children in Ireland would be better served by more facilities around the country and updated facilities in centers of excellence.

The states bullying and ignoring of Crumlin also shows they are unwilling to support the actual good work of care teams and families who put the effort in to look after their children in a pressured system.

Tallaght as a hospital has already reached capacity, closing city center Hospitals was a mistake.

More centers in Major Towns, Hospitals and possibly an expansion of Crumlin or a new site are the best options when combined.

No right minded person has ever thought a sky scrapper on the Matter site would ever help out children, or be viable without better transport.

The Metro North is shelved and the Luas D Line extension isn’t close enough, the Matter site is far to busy to take such a large building. It was jobs for the boys not healthcare for our children.

It is interesting to read the Reasons and Considerations given by An Bord Pleanala in reaching the decision to reject the planning application. http://www.pleanala.ie/news/PA0024/DPA0024.pdf

The main issue here appears to be with the visual impact of the building because they have tried to squeeze too much on to the site – not that the site itself is wrong.

They note the “general acceptability of the proposal in terms of medical co-location on this inner city hospital site” and “the quality of the design”.

Minister Reilly appears to be determined to overcome this hiccup as quickly as possible. Starting the design process from scratch on a new site would be an enormous waste of time and money. I think it is more likely that a reduced version of the proposal will be put forward that would be acceptable to An Bord Pleanála, with a proposal to retain Temple Street in some capacity make up the shortfall or possible acquire adjacent sites (e.g. Mountjoy) for future expansion. This would allow the project to proceed with minimal delay.

Significantly, the issue of transport access to the site is not a feature of the decision at all despite the concerns raised here.

Outside Dublin near kildare or Portloaise its for the whole country not just the capital

There are already 3 existing childrens hospitals in Dublin!! How about giving the rest of the country one!!

On the N7 in kildare, Naas maybe N7 N8 N9 all facilitated and the N4/N6 is approximately 20 from it and the N3 a further 20mins away ( and this is not allowing for possible road upgrades), if located on the Sallins side of the N7 it would directly facilitated by a train service, but an existent commuter bus already exist with Naas a couple of mins away

greenfield site in city west.

close to a trolly factory…..

Sydney has two great paediatric hospitals for four million people!!
randwick and west mead 33 kms apart.

Common sense aint very common, build it in tallaght and invest the money so the kids won’t have to take their kids to randwick/Westmead in twenty years time!!

I’m not an expert and they are paid to decide. Visiting and parking are only second to the best care. Put the hospital wherever the best medical experts say But parents must have easy access to be with sick child and for follow up appointments. And so much money has been spent so far!

The industrial estate on the west side of the M50 between the N4 and N7, on the train line to Heuston, close to Tallaght and Crumlin and near the red LUAS line would be a good spot.

It’s common sense to put it near the M50.

If Dundrum mental hospital is closing down why not demolish the building and rebuild there. Has Luas, m50, bus etc

why would it make sense to shut down how many childrens hospitals to build one super hospital? it is digraceful that people from donegal, galway, and cork have to travel all the way across the country to a childrens hospital, when there should be one in every provience. this hospital in the mater should not be supported at all, a disgraceful location.

Build it in the docklands – plenty of space already in government ownership, near a large uncongested motorway ( port tunnel – for urgent cases), next to public transport and has the added benefit of injecting some more life into the area..

Serious questions have to be asked. How can all the parties involved not have known some BASIC facts: was the propsoed development within basix planning guidelines. From what I read over €30m has been spent on this project. A huge propostion will be wasted. HEADS MUST ROLL.

How about cherry orchard hospital? Huge site with very little of the land developed and it is very close to the m50 and bus services.

I remember Cavan in All Ireland under 21 final last year. With the traffic it took over an hour to make it to the mater from Clonee . The worst thing about this was Croke Park was half full that day. I’d hate to have to make that journey with a sick child and 80,000 odd people heading for a game. I think Beaumount hospital is the perfect location. Its argueably the best hospital in the country. It has a massive grounds. Some off the best doctors and surgens in Europe. Its easy to get too.

M50 near Blanchardstown. Maybe on the Connolly MH. Super road network. Trains. Easily accessible. 1 hour from Monahan, Cavan…. In fact it’s only 2 hours from cork if you stated on the motorway network.

I have to thank the government for two things over the past 10 years…
1 the smoking ban is the best thing ever done
2 the motorway network (except i disagree strongly with the tolls)

Near the M50 and preferably close to the Luas as well.

Easy…..near St Mary’s in the Phoenix Park. The state owns the land, it is near the M50…everyone can find the Phoenix Park. St. Mary’s could also be improved (there is an old walled and secure garden, which would be perfect for those with alzheimer’s) and incorporate proper rehabilitation facilities.
The setting is stunning, not land-locked. For specialist links….near the Mater, st James, Beaumont etc. Not an impossible transfer for the staff of the existing children’s hospitals. Proper play areas, facilities for parents to stay, decent parking, near Heuston station, improve existing bus services.
Cannot think of any negatives.
While it was never envisaged to develop the Park, many would support contained development for such an essential hospital.

Hospital should be located on a green field site close to dart ,rail and bus services. It needs to serve all of Ireland.

Somewhere central in the country….easy for everyone to get too!!!

They should relocate RTE out of South Dublin and put it there…

Right between UCD and St Vincents would be a very dynamic location for developing medical services and practices

Out side the M50 is a terrible idea half the problems with developers were cause by allowing Dublin to sprawl… It should be contained within the M50 like London is within the green belt

it should be built in the centre of Ireland, close to railway links and public transport. Dublin again, sucking the life out of the rest of Ireland. Give everyone an equal distance and opportunity, to access it easily . Dublin is a bottle neck as it is, do they need to strangle it anymore. Give the rest of us a piece of something in Ireland, that we can get to without being held up or crippled by costs.Hire some intelligent people in the public service for a change!

Move it out of the pale to somewhere more central that can be accessed from all corners of the country easily ie the mid lands and no I’m not from the mid lands

Why does everything has to be built in Dublin? There is a rest of Ireland too you know…..

finglas on the road to ashbourne ders loads of land its near the airport the m1 the n2 the n3 and right on the m50 theres never much traffic and there would be loads of parking… easy to get to from all over dublin and also dundalk and many other counties… there is also busses and trains at cabra/finglas wich would be just 10 mins away

Athlone, middle of Ireland springs to mind.

I don’t think anywhere in Dublin would be suitable to be honest,if i were the planning board i’d look towards the midlands….Athlone or Portlaoise, logically with the road network and easy access for the greater population of the country, not alone that but for the sanity of the poor kids and parents that will have to use it, this should be the main factor in finding the proper site not easy accessability for the consultants, after these are the reason why it’s being built at all…………..so have a heart and think about the users of the hospital ….the kids and parents. Ger O’Meara

Kildare area

Build in PortLaoise. Excellent transport links by rail and by road, cheaper site, much nicer environment for staff and patients, and much more accessible than Dublin city centre.

Sydney austrailia as we have to look to the future and most of our young people will be gone to sydney or some other far away place as they have no jobs and are been abused by the government of today, we will not need a hospital as we will not have the children in Ireland.

The hospital has to be built near an adult hospital and maternity hospital you can’t just pop it up on a field because there is a field
The whole idea is to have a seamless hospital from birth to adult which is the way most of the developed countries run it
The problem with Ireland is we luv sprawls of cities over wide areas and then we moan about services and wonder why we don’t have any
It’s not a coincidence that all rich and successful countries build tall buildings it’s an integrated solution to living and working problem us were 50 years behind this

How about somewhere in the middle of the country, say Athlone maybe?

Fuck this daffy, let’s get into politics, me and u kid, we could take on the world (providing china backs us)

It is interesting to read the Reasons and Considerations given by An Bord Pleanala in reaching the decision to reject the planning application. http://www.pleanala.ie/news/PA0024/DPA0024.pdf

The main issue here appears to be with the visual impact of the building because they have tried to squeeze too much on to the site – not that the site itself is wrong.

They note the “general acceptability of the proposal in terms of medical co-location on this inner city hospital site” and “the quality of the design”.

Minister Reilly appears to be determined to overcome this hiccup as quickly as possible. Starting the design process from scratch on a new site would be an enormous waste of time and money. I think it is more likely that a reduced version of the proposal will be put forward that would be acceptable to An Bord Pleanála, with a proposal to retain Temple Street in some capacity make up the shortfall or possibly acquire adjacent sites (e.g. Mountjoy) for future expansion. This would allow the project to proceed with minimal delay.

Significantly, the issue of transport access to the site is not a feature of the decision at all despite the concerns raised here.

I don’t know why the Mater site was chosen in the first place. It’s crazy and a waste of money thus far.

Get rid of the Joy. Put it there.

The Bottleworks site in Irishtown.

Absolutely agree with this.

Is the Mater the right choice?
St. James Hospital is a sprawling horrible stupid hospital. The Mater at least is constrained a little so went upwards. But this needs to be improved. If the new part of that hoispital wasn’t built with expansion in mind then whoever approved it is an idiot. The area around the mater also needs to be improved. a few buildings knocked down, roads widened. Same with St James. Beaumount is as hard to get to too.

On another point:
Hospitals attract doctors where they can specialize and have other knowledgeable doctors around. There is a reason Naas, Cavan, etc all have the worst doctors. Having the childrens hospital beside another hospital and easy reach of the other speciality hospitals makes much more sense.

Anywhere but Dublin its a nightmare to get in and out of god forbid the dubs may have travel out of the pale

Off the m50 with free buses running half hourly between the other major hospitals. Or what about taking a measly 15-20 acres of not popular land in the Phoenix park and using this….