Planning permission for the new national children's hospital has been granted.

An Bord Pleanála has ruled that the new hospital, which will bring together the National Children's Hospital in Tallaght, Temple Street Children's Hospital and Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin, can be built on the grounds of St James's Hospital in Dublin city.

The decision to locate the hospital at St James's was decided at the end of 2012. Earlier that year, An Bord Pleanála refused an application for it to be located on the same site as Dublin's Mater Hospital.

That version of the children's hospital was due to have been completed by this year. Some €40 million was spent on development plans for the Mater site, however most of that was subsequently written off.

Construction is now expected to begin this summer and it is hoped that the hospital will be fully operational by 2020. It will contain 13 wards and 380 single inpatient rooms, which will include an overnight bed for parents. A 60-bed facility near the entrance will also be available for family accommodation.

Meanwhile, two children's satellite centres, at Tallaght Hospital and Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, are expected to be ready by 2018.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio about An Bord Pleanála's decision, Eilish Hardiman, CEO of the Children's Hospital Group, described this as a ‘watershed day for children, young people and their families'.

"We are now firmly on our way to making this long awaited children's hospital a reality," she commented.

However, the decision to locate the hospital at St James's has not been welcomed by everyone. Jonathan Irwin, founder of the Jack & Jill Foundation, has been vehemently opposed to the decision, believing that the city centre campus is the wrong location.

He believes Connolly Hospital is the better option due to, among other things, its 46 hectares of open space, which would allow for expansion in the future, as well as its close proximity to the M50.