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.

If the Government was unhappy with this site, the consortium said it would be happy to build, on a non-profit basis, on any site thought more suitable by the Government.

Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive (HSE), which is chairing a joint HSE/Department of Health and Children task group, established to propose a site for a new national children’s hospital, is expected to issue its recommendations in the coming week.

The prime consideration in making the site decision will depend on co-location to an adult teaching academic hospital and national centres of adult treatment, the HSE said yesterday.

The spokesperson said the submission from Alburn had been acknowledged “and we will be in further contact with them. It should be noted their proposal is not co-located with an adult teaching academic hospital”.

The HSE said it was very conscious of its responsibilities regarding the financial aspects of the project.

“The major costs associated with a new children’s hospital will centre on running costs and the staffing of the hospital, which will far exceed any capital costs involved in the building of the facility.”

Plans for a single national children’s hospital were announced in February after the publication of a report which found the State, given its population, could support only one world-class paediatric hospital.

Seven Dublin hospitals have expressed an interest in becoming the site for the national children’s hospital.

The former grounds of the British ambassador’s residence at Glencairn in south Dublin is the site chosen by the first private consortium, the Beacon Medical Group.

The 22-acre site is located directly beside the proposed extension to the Luas Green Line and adjacent to the M50. The land originally formed part of Glencairn, the mansion and extensive grounds sold by the British Foreign Office to Michael Cotter’s Park Developments around eight years ago.

BMG has an option to buy the site if its bid for the 380-bed children’s hospital is successful.

Dr Bill Casey at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin said the new development should be co-located with a maternity hospitals as the most vulnerable children were newborn babies.