Health Minister has no date she can 'stand over' on Children's Hospital completion
Jennifer Carroll MacNeil remained tight-lipped on a completion date for the National Children’s Hospital this week, stating it would be opened when it was ‘safe [and] clinically appropriate.’
The completion date for the controversial construction site was pushed back for the 18th time.
The two-decade saga dates back as far as 1993, and was finally meant to be completed at the end of the month.
Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photos
Last month, BAM confirmed the schedule wouldn’t be met, and a new date was set to be provided within two weeks.
Speaking to Sarah McInerney on Prime Time this week, Health Minister Carroll MacNeil didn’t disclose a date.
‘We do have a timeline, but is it going to be met?’ the Health Minister admitted, ‘If you’ve experienced something 19 times, do you expect it to be different on the 20th?
Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill at the National Children’s Hospital. Pic: Tom Honan
‘What I’m much more interested in is what day are we getting into the hot block? That’s the material date.’
The Fine Gael TD went on to say that again, there was no date for the hot block that she ‘could stand over.’
‘Possibly the beginning of May, but that was supposed to be the middle of March,’ she said, before laughing and adding: ‘I’ll tell you as soon as I get it.’
Pic: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie
Asked what she would say to the parents and grandparents waiting more than 20 years for the specialist hospital, the Health Minister insisted she was ‘one of those parents.’
She said: ‘I have slept in Temple Street, I have slept in Crumlin. I have been in all of the different parts, I am one of those parents and I would have loved ot have been here instead of Crumlin.
‘I’m the mum who wants to have this hospital open for her child. I’m a community member, I’m a TD who wants this hospital open for the children of my constituency.
‘I have zero ego in this.’
Pushed again for date, the Health Minister said she was more interested in seeing BAM finishing the job than getting dates off them.
‘We’ll open it when it’s safe, when it’s right,’ she stated, ‘I’m not going to open it at a standard that isn’t clinically appropriate, and I’m not going to open it if it’s not safe for the children to move.
‘I think they’re pretty reasonable parameters.’
