€1.7bn national children's hospital may not be designed to deal with future pandemics  

Ahead of today's meeting of the PAC, Catherine Murphy TD raised concerns about the planning of the proposed hospital, and governance issues such as the minuting of meetings of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. 

Serious concerns have been raised as to whether the €1.7bn national children's hospital will meet the standards needed to care for patients during a future pandemic.

As far back as August of this year, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board discussed "potential design modifications" that may be required to manage any future outbreaks such as the current Covid-19 pandemic.