Crumlin withdraws from children's hospital development

Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin has decided not to engage with the Health Service Executive's Transition Group in developing a new National Children's Hospital on the site of the Mater Hospital.

The board of directors at the children's hospital said the decision was taken against a background of "very significant" concerns about the inadequacy of the site at the Mater Hospital, access to the site and the process set up to progress the project.

A spokeswoman said while the Board appreciated that the HSE would be disappointed with the decision, the proposed site was "not adequate to build a world class facility for children."

Last year the Government endorsed a recommendation by the Health Service Executive to locate the proposed new national children's hospital in Dublin's Mater Hospital.

This followed a consultants' report which concluded that there should be just one major children's hospital in the State which should be located adjacent to an adult hospital.

In a statement today, the HSE said it was very disappointed that the Board had decided not to engage in the development of the new National Paediatric Hospital.

The HSE said it did not understand the basis upon which the decision was made and queried what the Board was "aiming to achieve by excluding itself from this critical process and how their decision could in any way be seen as serving the best interests of sick child from all over Ireland."

Minister for Health Mary Harney described Crumlin's decision as "deeply disappointing" but insisted the development would go ahead.

Ms Harney said she was satisfied that the recommendation by the HSE to locate the new hospital at the Mater site was made after "a rigorous and independent assessment process".

But Labour's spokeswoman on health Liz McManus said it was difficult to see how the project could proceed without the participation of the "foremost paediatric hospital in the country".

"In the light of the Crumlin announcment it is now more essential than ever that the government commissions an independentreview of the decision to locate at the Mater that must take account of the serious reservations raised by Crumlin and Tallaght," she said.