Construction of the new National Children's Hospital is to begin on the site of St James's Hospital ‘within weeks', the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, has said.

He has announced that the Government has approved the construction of the new hospital, which will have 380 inpatient single rooms, all with en-suite facilities and in-parent accommodation.

Three-hundred of these rooms will be general inpatient rooms, while 60 will be critical care rooms incorporating intensive care/high dependency cases. The remaining 20 beds will be child and adolescent mental health beds.

There will also be 22 operating theatres and procedure rooms, and 110 outpatient consulting/examining rooms.

Minister Harris insisted that this marks ‘a huge step forward' for the hospital, ‘ending years of doubt as to whether it would ever be built'.

The project also includes two paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres at Tallaght Hospital and Connolly Hospital, which are due to open by early 2019. The main hospital is estimated to open in 2021.

However, the increasing costs of the project have been heavily criticised by some. Originally estimated to cost over €600 million, that figure has now exceeded €1 billion.

"The total capital cost for the delivery of the project at St James's Hospital and the outpatient and urgent care centres (at Tallaght and Connolly) is €1.07bn, of which €1.004bn is Exchequer related, made up of €916m Exchequer capital and €88m Exchequer ICT capital," the Department of Health said.

A number of campaigners also continue to insist that the St James's site is not suitable for the new hospital. They believe it should be built on a greenfield site instead, such as on the grounds of Connolly Hospital.

The Minister's announcement was however welcomed by the board of St James's Hospital, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and the Children's Hospital Group Board.

"We are on the cusp of changing how paediatric services are delivered in Ireland. It is a time of real and significant change for all of us involved in caring for children, young people and their families and we are delighted for patients, their families and our staff," commented Eilish Hardiman, chief executive of the Children's Hospital Group.

The news was also welcomed by the CEOs of Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin (Helen Shortt), Temple Street Children's University Hospital (Mona Baker) and Tallaght Hospital (David Slevin).

"These facilities will be a big improvement for children, young people, families and staff. The design and the range of facilities that will be available under one roof will be exceptional. The hospitals are looking forward to the opening of the new hospital and to seeing continuing improvements in clinical care and outcomes for the children and young people in our care," they commented.