New Children's Hospital not 'fully operational' until 2020 Health Minister confirms

The Minister for Health Leo Vardkar has said the new Children's Hospital will not be fully operational until 2020.

The Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said the new Children's Hospital will not be fully operational until 2020.

It was announced last year that the hospital would open its doors in spring 2019. While patients will begin to be admitted then, Health Minister Leo Varadkar said it is not likely to be fully operational until 2020.

"There won't be a 'big bang' opening," said. "The three existing hospitals would have to be decanted into it.

"Construction [will be] finished in 2019, [and] it will open in 2019 in part – and fully 2020."

The Minister's office maintains that a 2020 fully operational date has been the plan for some time, and today's comments are nothing new.

Former Minister for Health James Reilly had previously promised that it would be ready by 2018.