Children’s hospital - Farce has dragged on far too long

At the very moment when rebuilding a can-do, positive image for Ireland is critical, yesterday’s refusal of planning permission by An Bord Pleanála for a National Children’s Hospital on the Mater Hospital site in Dublin, was another kick in the teeth for anyone who wants, but struggles every day, to believe that this small, often dysfunctional Republic, has a bright future.

The decision, after something approaching €50m has been spent writing reports and developing proposals, is in stark contrast to Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s by now almost daily mantra — “Ireland is the best small country in the world in which to do business”.

The farce would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragically amateur, so embarrassingly distant from what should be expected in a functioning society with a real sense of public morality and civic purpose.