After nine long years of weeping and gnashing of teeth since construction began in 2016, Dublin’s spanking new children’s hospital is finally set to open its doors in June 2026. With a price tag of €2.24 billion (and counting), little old Ireland now boasts what is reportedly the most expensive hospital on Earth. Go the Paddys!
But what to call this gleaming monument to government folly and overspending, originally set to cost 600 million? A project of such magnificence surely deserves a name of equal grandeur.
The name "Phoenix Children's Hospital Ireland" was abandoned after fears that it would be a reminder of the scandals involving organs from deceased children being incinerated with clinical waste, not to mention legal threats from Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Arizona, USA.
Meetings were held, consultants consulted, and a specialist branding agency paid a measly €4,500, before the decision was made to call it ... The National Children’s Hospital!
Bravo! Inspired, I hear you cry. How ever did they think of that? “The reason that we picked that name was very simple. We had a process of engagement with the youth advisory groups, with parents, with patients, and that is the name that they chose", said the minister for health.
What ever would we do without government?
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. Image nicked from Irish Independent Newspaper