Second private bid to build children’s hospital on non-profit basis

A SECOND private bid is being made for the construction of a national children’s hospital on a non-profit basis on the western outskirts of Dublin by a development consortium.

The consortium, which is thought to include AIB, has offered to develop the land on a cost or non-profit basis which, it says, could save the taxpayer up to €250 million.

The latest interested group is Alburn Development, fronted by solicitor and property developer Noel Smith, which has proposed the construction of a hospital on its 32-acre site off the Naas Road between the Red Cow roundabout and Newlands Cross.