It has emerged today that €35m will essentially be written off as a result of the failure to obtain planning permission for the new children hospital at a site in Dublin’s north side.
The project director for the National Pediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), John Pollock, informed the Dáil spending watchdog that €41.5m had been spent while attempting to secure planning permission for a site at the Mater hospital.
An Board Pleanala rejected this application, however, deeming the proposed new building ‘too tall.’ As a result of this rejection, a new 12-acre site at St. James’ Hospital was chosen. According to Pollock, only about €6.2m of the work invested so far will have a ‘retained value.’
Also, bringing the new hospital to planning stage will cost an additional €32m. The board expects to apply for planning in June 2015 and to begin construction in early 2016.
Sinn Fein’ TD Mary Lou McDonald expressed anger at the new, and said it was ‘astonishing’ that such amount of money was ‘written off’ and basically declared ‘null and void.’