Children's hospital fire safety
Deputy Mattie McGrath raises concerns about the national children's hospital, its escalating cost, and claims that its design may evade sprinkler requirements. The Tánaiste insists safety is paramount and says the planned fire protection exceeds regulatory requirements while statutory processes continue.
It is promised legislation; it is the programme for Government. It concerns the national children's hospital, its development and the sorry saga whereby the cost is now €1.25 billion. I am glad that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is here. The national children's hospital was deliberately designed to be-----
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The question concerns how the hospital was designed to be 10 cm lower in height than 30 m to circumvent sprinkler requirements to avoid having to install a sprinkler system for fires. This is not a claim made by me. I am reporting a claim made by Dublin Fire Brigade. The developers, the board of the national children's hospital and Dublin Fire Brigade spent 12 months discussing this. We are going to have this iconic building that has been called a world-class hospital when it is a fire trap. Are we going to allow this to carry on just to save money for developers? This is outrageous.
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It is not circumventing. It is a national issue. Our children-----
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Building this hospital is in the programme for Government. The cost has gone from €400 million up to €1.25 billion and now they are keeping below the required height just to avoid putting in safety measures to prevent fire.
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Let us be very clear that everybody who has been involved with this project, including the Government, holds the strong view that safety is paramount with regard to this project to ensure that children, parents and staff operate within a safe environment. The board has also indicated that the provision of fire sprinkler protection planned for the new children's hospital will exceed the number set out in the fire safety regulation legislation. A statutory process is under way regarding a number of conditions and, of course, whatever An Bord Pleanála has to say by year end. The development board will comply fully with any fire safety requirements. That is quite obvious. We are providing a state-of-the-art children's hospital and are not going to compromise on safety, including fire safety.