National Children’s Hospital: Planning permission a balm for all

Health Minister Leo Varadkar talks a lot, both on and off the airwaves, but he isn’t often given to over-excitement. He exudes a calm demeanour amidst the maelstrom of political life.

Yesterday was a notable exception, as he took to Twitter to proclaim: “Absolutely fantastic news. Planning granted for new National Children’s Hospital! Great news for all the children of Ireland.”

His excitable outburst followed the decision by An Bord Pleanála to grant permission for the new children’s hospital, on a campus shared with St James’s Hospital, in Dublin.