Doctors: No half-measures for child hospital

The country’s most senior paediatricians have warned against downsizing the new National Children’s Hospital to make it fit the Mater site, fearing a smaller building would mean sacrificing vital facilities.

The faculty of paediatrics at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland also says it wants a place on the review group James Reilly, the health minister, is setting up to plot the way ahead after the development proposed for the Mater campus was refused planning permission on the grounds of its scale.

Dr Reilly yesterday refused to say who would be involved in the review, which is to be chaired by business consultant, Frank Dolphin, a former chairman of Temple St Children’s Hospital.