Residents groups in Dublin's south city have said they are going to object to a planning application for the new National Children’s Hospital to be built in the St James's campus.
They are being joined by a group - the New Children's Hospital Alliance - which is arguing that the facility should be sited at Blanchardstown.
Residents in Mount Brown and the South Circular Road argue that the €650 million development is too big for a congested city area.
The New Children's Hospital Alliance said that Blanchardstown's position on the M50 makes it better for access particularly for parents coming from outside Dublin.
Both groups say they will make formal objections to the plan.
But project director of the National Paedaetric Hospital Board John Pollock has said local public transport links as well as medical criteria makes the site suitable.
The new hospital would combine the three existing children’s hospitals at Crumlin, Tallaght and Temple St in the same site providing specialist care.
The new development will involve an extra 470 beds in the St James’s Campus and 2,000 staff.
There would be an underground carpark with 1,000 spaces.
Residents in Mount Brown say some homes in the area have already experienced subsidence and are concerned about the effect of construction while other residents groups are concerned about traffic levels.
However other local groups support the project which is due to contain Community Benefit Clauses under which local employment in construction would be written into the developer's contract.
Some local areas have 30% unemployment.
There are also plans for local employment opportunities in the hospital itself.
Medical eGuides in the nearby Digital Hub which makes apps for medical systems said the new facility is designed as the country's first "paperless" hospital, and noted that many new digital startups are working in the medical and lifestyle areas and will benefit from having the new facility.
The planning application is due to go straight to An Bord Pleanála within weeks.
