This morning, parents across Ireland have woken up to the shocking fiasco of the spiralling costs of building the national children's hospital. They read this morning with horror that the situation has spun so far out of control that the estimated cost has ballooned from an initial €404 million in 2012 to a mind-boggling figure of more than €1 billion today. As it stands, Ireland's national children's hospital - if built - will be the most expensive children's hospital to be built anywhere in the world. This infuriating saga is now a sorry tale of bungles, incompetence and broken promises stretching across two decades. In that time, we have seen Governments led by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael make big announcements to the Irish people but deliver very little. Today, 24 years after the idea was first proposed in 1993, the national children's hospital is still a project wrapped in uncertainty and chaos. However, we should probably expect little else from a Government whose entire approach to health care is based on the fostering of crises, havoc and confusion. As our health system creaks, the Tánaiste's party has spent the past two weeks gazing at its navel, indulging its obsession with the question of who might be its new leader.

I have a newsflash for the Tánaiste: both Fine Gael and the Government are bereft of leaders. The abject failure to get a handle on the astronomical costs of the children's hospital and to allay the fears of parents is proof positive - if further proof were needed - of that fact.

This week, 1,486 patients have found themselves on trolleys in our hospitals and this should rightly cause shock and outrage. The truth, however, is that 500 people lying on trolleys daily has become normal under this Government. We have seen through recent "RTE Investigates" programmes the horrifying stories of children as they wait in agony for vital scoliosis surgery. On 7 March, nurses and hospital support workers will proceed with industrial action because of the stressful and unacceptable working conditions created by this Government. Through its arrogant treatment of nurses, this Government is again putting the health and welfare of our children at grave risk. Whether it is Deputy Varadkar or Deputy Coveney or anyone else in the hot seat, ordinary people have no faith in this Government to deliver a fair health service and accessible health care. Can the Tánaiste tell me how she can stand over the outrageous and spiralling costs of the children's hospital and indicate when the facility will be built?

There have been decades of discussion about the need for a new children's hospital and, in the aftermath of that, the country is about to get a new children's hospital that it badly needs and that the children in this country deserve. This Government has ensured that a child-friendly, high-specification, proper hospital for our children based on a world-class design will be completed.

World-class mess.

No helipad.

The hospital and its satellite centres will be a research-intensive academic health care institution providing the very best of care day in, day out. This Government has ensured that a site has been selected and the works have begun on that site.

The original estimate was €630 million-----

It is going up by €300 million.

-----which was the core building cost of the hospital at the time. We all know that there has been building inflation. This was expected to be 3%. Everyone in this House knows it is running at 9%. That figure did not include some of the issues being spoken about at present in connection with the cost. The information technology, IT, cost was always going to have to be taken into account. There is also a new education and research centre as part of the development.

That is another €200 million.

That has been included and will be funded other than from that €630 million, which was the original cost of the build.

We have moved the situation to the point whereby there is clarity about the site, work has begun and people are on site doing those early jobs that are required. In addition, we have a hospital design that everybody agrees is world class. We will have a world-class children's hospital in the next couple of years. The core estimate was made when construction inflation was estimated to be 3% and, as we know, the latter is running at higher than 9%. The updated capital costs have been incorporated into the final project brief and submitted recently to the HSE and are under consideration. The Minister for Health will bring forward an updated memorandum in respect of the hospital. That memorandum will outline the new costs and full details relating to the project and will be brought forward shortly. We must not lose sight of the vision for the new hospital, which will facilitate care for the very many sick children in this country. It will cater for the 25% of the population comprising children. We need that hospital because one in four citizens is a child.

That is over €1 million per bed.

I am sure the Tánaiste's reference to the Cabinet as "hospital" was not deliberate. Perhaps the chaos in both has been comparable in recent days. The only thing that is clear here is that the Tánaiste is continuing to equivocate on the matter of costs. Is she happy that the children's hospital, if and when it is completed, will be the most expensive children's hospital built anywhere in the world? A new children's hospital in Finland, which is a comparable jurisdiction, will cost half what our children's hospital is apparently going to cost. What does the Tánaiste intend to do about those costs? Is the Government planning to sit on its hands again? Will it leave it to the Committee of Public Accounts to call authorities to account for spiralling costs and to account for how public moneys are spent? Everybody understands the need for the children's hospital. As I said earlier, this debate has run since 1993. The reality is that decades have passed and there is no hospital. Now we read accounts of spiralling costs that are outrageous and indefensible. I will repeat my questions. What about the costs? What does the Government intend to do about the €1 billion bill that is being presented to the taxpayer? When will the hospital be completed?

I have already outlined the approach that is being taken in relation to the increased costs. The Minister will bring a memorandum to the Cabinet in that regard. There has been building inflation and that has to be taken into account. Extra facilities that were not in the original plan are now being provided. I refer to the educational and research centre, for example, which will be funded from elsewhere. There will also be an input from philanthropy. The Government is committed to ensuring the funding will be available. On the subject of capital costs, it is quite clear that many of our major projects have had cost overruns. When it was proposed to develop a second terminal at Dublin Airport, there was a great deal of discussion about the site, the building and the costs, but the terminal is now there and nobody is questioning it.

I am asking about the children's hospital and not about the airport.

We absolutely need to have our children's hospital. Is anybody suggesting we should not go ahead with our children's hospital?

The Tánaiste should not be ridiculous.

Of course we will go ahead with it.

When?

It has already begun. It will be delivered in the near future. It will work according to the plan that has been outlined.

So it will take another decade or two.

As I have said, the Government has taken a decision about the site and has provided the funding.

By the way, the Tánaiste's remarks are not answers.

We will continue to provide the funding. That is a commitment.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, the Tánaiste has not provided answers. We are getting used to this.

I have no control over the Tánaiste's answers.

We need our children's hospital and we are committed to delivering it.