Jonathan Irwin (Jack&Jill) and Tom  Costello( NPHDB) go head- to- head and talk to  Sean O’ Rourke, RTE Radio One. Listen  here.

NCHA Comment: Tom Costello is incorrect in several of his arguments e.g.

1)Connolly Hospital does not, as Costello claims, require a €50 or €60 million major road network restructuring – the report he talks about is ten years old, the upgrading is complete and Connolly according to the Dolphin Report has  “motorway slipway access”(p57), and “access by car is excellent”(p79)

2)Costello says -Adult co-location is “paramount” in all reports from McKinsey onwards This is untrue. McKinsey said no such thing. The HSE, post -McKinsey, on setting up  the Task Group on Location had the following post on its website,7th March 2006 (quoted in the NCHA’s written submission to An Bord Pleanála on the Mater site)  “HSE  Refutes criticism of Process to select New Children’s Hospital Site…The outcome process has not been predetermined…It is open and objective to the point where the outcome may even be a decision to locate somewhere other than an existing hospital site.. any suggestion that this group has prejudged anything is completely misplaced”.

So much for McKinsey requiring adult co-location as a ‘paramount’ condition.

See NCHA comment, 8th June 2006, Timeline,  here.