Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I was stunned to read this week that the long-awaited and long-overdue national children’s hospital was set to be delayed further and that this supposedly state-of-the-art hospital may not even be accessible to wheelchair users. The Dáil was told in February that the project’s completion date would be this October and that the first patients could be expected to be treated there in spring 2025. It is now predicted that the hospital will not open to patients until 2026, which will be 12 years after the expected opening date.

Of significant concern is the report that a number of rooms within the hospital may not be accessible to wheelchair users. A number of doctors visited the site last year and were given a tour of the unfinished facility. At least two of six consultation rooms in one department were not wheelchair accessible. The doctors made clear at the time that they were extremely unhappy with this. They said that the rooms were very small and cramped and were akin to what they were using in the older hospitals.

We are constantly told that this is to be a modern and up-to-date building. At a cost of €2.6 billion, it has gone way over budget. It has been delayed 12 years. Now, it may not even be accessible. The project’s handling has been a disaster from the start. One has to ask who is responsible for the design. In this day and age, how could any professional stand over designing a building that is not accessible?

Ireland signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, in 2007, although it took us 11 years to ratify it and we were one of the last EU countries to do so. If we are going to behave like this, though, we should not have bothered. All public buildings should be fully accessible to ensure inclusivity for all persons. Buildings and services that are designed to meet the needs of disabled people serve the whole population well. We should not deny anyone access to anywhere. We hear of the ongoing court proceedings between the company responsible for the hospital’s construction and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. The company consistently says that the volume and frequency of design changes are the reasons for the continued delays and cost increases. If elementary considerations such as ensuring accessibility are still being overlooked, I dread to think what the original design was like.

Have the rooms referred to by the doctors in the report been modified to ensure they are accessible to all and, if so, at what additional cost? How can we be sure that the building has been constructed to universal design standards? Are there procedures in place to ensure that something like this cannot happen again, not just at this hospital, but at any public building?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, I thank Deputy Tully for raising this matter and giving me the opportunity to address the speculation about the lack of accessibility for wheelchair users at the new children’s hospital.

The hospital is the largest health capital project in the history of the State and will transform the delivery of paediatric healthcare in Ireland. The project consists of the construction of the main hospital on the St. James’s Hospital campus and two satellite facilities at Blanchardstown and Tallaght. Both satellite facilities are now open and delivering care. The new children’s hospital will be an incredible state-of-the-art hospital. It will be Ireland’s first digital public hospital, providing 473 beds in total, comprising 380 inpatient beds and 93 day beds. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board reports that the construction and equipping phase of the main hospital is approximately 90% complete against the contract value.

Regarding recent media reports, the development board has advised that the new children’s hospital has been designed, and is being constructed, in consultation with Children’s Health Ireland and in accordance with a disabled access certificate. There are more than 5,000 rooms in the new hospital and the development board has advised that all rooms and areas within the hospital are fully compliant and, as such, accessible. It appears that the comments attributed to an anonymous Dublin consultant are inaccurate or incorrectly attributed. The Minister for Health has been advised that neither the NPHDB nor CHI is aware of any reported complaint from a clinician or clinicians in respect of access. The Minister would encourage any clinician or other member of staff to engage with CHI or the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board directly to address specific concerns or misunderstandings that may exist in this regard.

The hospital’s design evolved out of extensive dialogue with many stakeholders, including staff from the three children’s hospitals, families, young people and children who were former or current users of the service. This process, which also fostered integration and the alignment of new ways of providing clinical care, has led to the development of a world-class building that is expressly designed for staff to deliver the best possible clinical care for children and young people.

With a project of this scale and such a large workforce moving into the new hospital, undoubtedly there will be reservations and differences of opinion raised by clinicians and other staff. However, significant consultation was undertaken to capture and address as many of those matters as possible at the point of design. The new hospital has been designed in line with international best practice to contemporary standards so as to reduce clinical risk and be as future-proof as possible, including by ensuring accessibility for staff, patients and their families.

If any clinician or other member of staff has an issue in this regard, we ask him or her to engage with CHI, the NPHDB or the Minister directly.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The need for this hospital has long been debated. There were delays in the initial stages about the location and it was decided that it should be in the middle of the city. I still question whether that was wise, but is too late to go back on that.

If there had been delays at the beginning to ensure the design was right everybody could have understood that. However, it seems that there has been change after change, which has caused delays and additional costs. This is taxpayers' money. While we need this state-of-the-art hospital, it was never predicted to cost as much as it has. It is one of the most expensive hospitals in the world. It should never have got to this stage.

There is also matter of the attitude towards building public facilities, services and so forth. I feel the UNCRPD is not being taken seriously across Departments. To ensure that any buildings, services or whatever else is being provided by a Department or public body is accessible to all, there needs to be engagement with disabled people. I am not sure that has happened in this case to the degree that it should have or that it is happening across the board in many projects.

There is a delay in the reporting cycle at the UN on our progress on the convention to date. It will be some time before we get feedback from it, which is a resource issue at UN level. We need to ensure that we are compliant with that convention and there is inclusivity and fairness. I hope the hospital is fully accessible. If there are any issues, I hope they have been addressed at this stage and that the project will proceed as quickly as possible. It is unfortunate that things like this are coming out at this stage. We need clarification and to ensure the hospital is accessible to all.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. I am happy to provide clarification. The Department has stated that the new national children's hospital has been designed and constructed in consultation with CHI and, most important, in accordance with disabled access certification.

There are 5,000 rooms in the new hospital and the development board is advised that all rooms and areas are fully compliant and, as such, are accessible. I again reiterate that if someone has evidence to the contrary, I ask them to please engage with the hospital development board, CHI or the Minister so that we can address the issue. The design process was informed by extensive workshops and consultation across all clinical disciplines. It is inevitable that there will be differences of opinion in a project such as this. The paediatric hospital development board is clear that the hospital is designed in line with international best practice to contemporary standards, to be as future proof as possible and to be accessible for staff and, most importantly, patients and their families.