The proposed new National Children's Hospital is not expected to be operational until 2015, according to detailed plans for the facility published today by its development board.
The hospital will cost €650m, with building work due to start towards the end of next year, subject to planning permission.
The new National Children's Hospital will have 445 beds, comprising 392 single inpatient beds and 53 day care beds.
The planning submission process started this month.
The hospital will have 13 operating theatres and will be built up to 16 storeys high on a site near the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin.
It will have up to 1,000 underground car park spaces. Parents and families requiring long-stay parking will not be charged.
The Exchequer will provide €400m towards the cost of building the hospital, €50m will be provided by the Health Service Executive, €90m will come from the car park, retail units and private clinics and €110m from philanthropy and fundraising.
An Ambulatory and Urgent Care Centre will open at Tallaght Hospital in late 2013 before its children's hospital moves to the new national centre.
