{"id":482383,"date":"2026-06-04T08:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/482383\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T08:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:39:08","slug":"national-childrens-hospital-is-a-failure-like-no-other-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/482383\/","title":{"rendered":"National Children\u2019s Hospital is a failure like no other \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Sir, \u2013 The ongoing saga of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/national-childrens-hospital\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/national-childrens-hospital\/\">National Children\u2019s Hospital<\/a> has become one of the most shameful examples of public project mismanagement in the history of the State.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">What was promised as a world-class facility for Ireland\u2019s children has instead become synonymous with spiralling costs, missed deadlines and a seemingly endless succession of explanations and excuses. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">I am writing this letter from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/children-s-health-ireland-chi-at-crumlin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/children-s-health-ireland-chi-at-crumlin\/\">Crumlin <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/children-s-health-ireland-chi-at-crumlin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/children-s-health-ireland-chi-at-crumlin\/\">Hospital<\/a>, where the conditions are quite frankly appalling. It only serves to highlight the critical need to get this project over the line and get the doors open. Thankfully, my stay will be short, but for some children and their families, they will spend their darkest days in this overcrowded and dated building. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Most distressing of all is that, while the new hospital remains unfinished, the children of Ireland continue to be treated in facilities that are wholly inadequate for a modern, prosperous European nation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">At a time when Ireland boasts strong economic growth, budget surpluses and a reputation as one of the wealthiest countries in Europe, it is deeply troubling that our current infrastructure is reminiscent of what one might expect in a developing country. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The contrast between our national prosperity and the conditions endured by our sick and vulnerable children, as well as their families, is stark and difficult to justify.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The children of Ireland deserve better. Their tired, worried parents deserve better. The wonderful doctors, nurses, care assistants and healthcare professionals who work tirelessly in these outdated facilities deserve better. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The true measure of public service is not simply delivering projects, but delivering them competently, responsibly and in the public interest. On that measure, those charged with overseeing this project have so much to answer for. \u2013 Yours, etc,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">GINA CASSIDY, <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Foxrock,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Dublin 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir, \u2013 The ongoing saga of the National Children\u2019s Hospital has become one of the most shameful examples&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[44746,103,397,396,61,60,29096],"class_list":["post-482383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-children-s-health-ireland-chi-at-crumlin","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-national-childrens-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}