The Chairman of the board of management at Tallaght hospital has said it will not co-operate with the Government's plans for a new national children's hospital - which is to be located in the Mater hospital in Dublin.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland, Alan Gillis said Tallaght was now proposing building the new hospital on two sites rather than one.
Also on the programme, Dr Enda Murphy, who is a research fellow at Trinity College Dublin, said that his study of access to the Mater, St James's and Tallaght found a significant difference in journey times between the three hospitals.
Last Thursday Crumlin Children's Hospital announced that it would not be supporting the development.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who is on a trade mission to the Gulf, has said he hopes the row over the location of the children's hospital does not further delay the development of the Mater.
Mr Ahern said if people wanted a national children's hospital he hoped they could resolve their differences.
The Taoiseach insisted that rather than promoting it, he had always had misgivings about sitting the new hospital with the Mater because of the danger it might delay the overall development of the complex which was already 15 months behind schedule.
