Roads around St James’s already clogging up, say residents

By Laura Lyne

AS STAFF in St James’s Hospital are faced with finding alternative parking as they head to work, residents have raised concerns as work began on the site for the new children’s hospital last Sunday – a day before an agreement between residents and the council was due to begin.

Following the closure of the staff car park at the hospital, which saw the removal of 300 car parking spaces, nursing staff have also threatened to quit the hospital and re-locate to hospitals that provide convenient access.

Richie O’Reilly, from the Tallaght Hospital Action Group, which objected to St James’s being chosen as the site for the National Children’s Hospital, raised local residents’ concerns about the already busy area.

He told The Echo: “The people that live down around Kilmainham and St James’s were already saying that the roads are clogging up.

“The other issue with all of this is that they got an agreement from Dublin City Council that the hours worked would only be from Monday to Saturday, but work to close the car park began at 6am on Sunday.

“It’s only going to get worse, this is only the beginning of it all. There’s no roads with parking around the area.

“There are up to 600 cars at the children’s hospital in Crumlin every day, and they’re going to be expected to go to James’s, along with all the cars from Tallaght and Temple Street?

“I know that I personally wouldn’t fancy going out in the area around St James’s at midnight, imagine how the nurses and staff feel about it. It’s very hard for them.

“It was said that this was going to happen, I certainly wouldn’t like to be down there working right now.”

Enabling works for the construction of the new children’s hospital began this week, with the hospital expected to open its doors in 2020.