It was announced today that the European Investment Bank (EIB) is to provide a loan of EUR 490 million to support construction of the new children’s hospital in Dublin. This represents the largest ever financial engagement by the European Union’s long-term lending institution in Ireland and the EIB’s first backing for a hospital in the country.
The record 25 year loan was confirmed during a formal signature ceremony at Government Buildings in Dublin attended by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Simon Harris T.D., Minister for Health, Paschal Donohoe T.D., Minister for Finance and Governor of the European Investment Bank, Dr. Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank and Andrew McDowell, Vice President of the European Investment Bank, as well as staff and members of the HSE, National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, the Children’s Hospital Group Board and children who live close to the hospital. Following the loan signature Ministers Harris and Donohoe visited the 12 acre site of the new hospital with EIB President Hoyer and his delegation.
The Government says construction of the new hospital is underway already, providing opportunities for local contractors and apprentices in the construction phase. When the hospital opens, it will employ 3,700 people. Care will be provided in 39 different specialties.
Once open in 2022, the new children’s hospital will provide 380 individual inpatient rooms, each with a parent bed, 93 day care beds, 22 operating theatres and a 53-unit family accommodation facility, as well as 4 acres of outdoor gardens and courtyards.
The new hospital is expected to be the first acute hospital in Ireland to use electronic health records. The EIB will finance the new children’s hospital through the National Treasury Management Agency and construction will be overseen by the Department of Health. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is responsible for planning, designing, building and equipping the new hospital on foot of a project brief from the Health Service Executive and approved by the Minister of Health.
This represents the first EIB financing for a new hospital in Ireland since the start of EIB lending in the country in 1973 and follows EIB support totalling EUR 70 million for construction of 14 primary health care centres agreed in May 2016.
Speaking this week, An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar said, "The new Children’s Hospital is the largest single healthcare investment in our history. It will transform the way in which we deliver care to sick children and their families. This loan from the European Investment Bank, the largest loan it has provided to Ireland to date, will allow us to build a world class hospital which will be a centre of paediatric research and medical education, as well as a safe and secure environment for families of sick children. It will be state of the art. Every child will have a single room. There will be parent accommodation, a garden and a school. It will be born digital with the newest equipment and technology. I would like to thank the European Investment Bank and its President Werner Hoyer for its commitment and support in upgrading Ireland’s infrastructure and helping us to build the health service we deserve."
President of the European Investment Bank, Werner Hoyer added, "The impressive new children’s hospital will provide 21st century healthcare for Ireland’s children, improve paediatric innovation and construct a world class facility in the heart of Dublin. It has been a privilege to hear from staff and patients how the new hospital will transform medical care and to see how construction here on the campus shared with St James’s Hospital has already progressed."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
