Tallaght attempts to head off Mullingar bid for children's hospital

A move to kill off the suggestion to locate the proposed national children's hospital in Mullingar was attempted at a meeting of the HSE last week.Cllr Mick Dollard told Westmeath County Council on Monday that a group from Tallaght failed in their bid to put the kibosh on the recent proposal by Cllr Gabrielle McFadden that the hospital - refused planning permission for a site at the Mater Hospital by An Bord Pleanála - locate in Mullingar.Cllr Dollard revealed that the group proposed that Tallaght be named as the new location for the hospital, but both he and Cllr Aidan Davitt protested, and the matter had to go a vote.The proposal that Tallaght be chosen was narrowly defeated.Cllr Dollard said the ideal would be to have the hospital built on a greenfield site adjacent to the existing Mullingar hospital.