Clean & Safe Neighbourhood

“The new children’s hospital is the biggest investment in a healthcare project in the history of the State. It will bring huge benefits for sick children and teenagers. But I want to ensure that the local community also benefits… This is a once-in-a-life time opportunity for the Dublin 8 community.”

- Leo Varadkar T.D., Minister for Health.

A Children’s Hospital should be built in an area appropriate for childhood; an area which is safe and clean.

Unfortunately, some areas around the St James’s campus do not meet these criteria. It is inexcusable to ask sick children, families and staff to pass through areas in need of urban regeneration to access the hospital.

St James’s is the largest Adult Hospital in Ireland and is double the size of the proposed children’s hospital. While it has become an excellent and thriving adult hospital, having shed the legacy of the old ‘poor house’, it hasn’t managed to bring economic growth to the immediate neighbourhoods. Therefore, it appears unreasonable to expect that the new children’s hospital will bring further economic or social benefit.

It takes more than building a hospital to bring coherent, long-term regeneration to an area. Any necessary regeneration programmes should be complete before building a Children’s Hospital there.