The government has announced that its to develop the new Children’s Hospital on the campus of St. James’s Hospital in Dublin.

It follows the rejection of the Mater site by  An Bord Pleanála.

The Health Minister James Reilly said that €26 million which had already been spent on the Mater site to date will not now be recovered.

Construction is expected to be completed by early 2018.

Deadline will not be met

It all comes 9 months after An Bord Pleanála gave their objections to the proposed Mater site.

Yesterday Mr. Reilly admitted that the hospital will not be built in time for the 2016 deadline.

The Minister said the new site offers scope for the building not only of a children’s hospital but also of a new maternity hospital in the future.

Dr. Reilly says it provides a much better alternative to the previously chosen Mater site.