Leo Varadkar has also suggested that a name as Gaeilge should be chosen to make it unique, while others in the Dáil proposed calling it after political figures such as WT Cosgrave or Kathleen Lynn.
Mr Varadkar said that Health Minister Simon Harris is now of the view that the “Phoenix Children’s Health” title will not be used as it is already the name of a hospital in the US. This name had initially been chosen after 300 suggestions were put forward during a consultation process.
The Taoiseach said he is “open-minded” on what the €1bn hospital, to be located at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, will be but added: “My favourite name is ‘Starship’” which is what the children’s hospital in New Zealand is called.
“It was not called that by politicians, rather it happened by accident because it looks like a starship and that is what the kids started to call it. It was subsequently adopted as the official name of the hospital. As it is taken, I do not think we can use it, however. “
He said as we enter Bliain na Gaeilge it would be appropriate to have an Irish-language name.
“If we are going to choose a unique name, I would like it to be as Gaeilge. I do not mean someone’s name translated into Irish but rather an Irish word,” he said.
However, responding to Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams who suggested the hospital be named after suffragette and 1916 volunteer Kathleen Lynn, the Taoiseach said it “should not be about politics, a political figure or make a political point of any sort”.
Mr Adams interjected to claim Ms Lynn was a doctor, to which the Taoiseach responded: “Doctors can be political figures too, as Deputy Adams may know. I may even be one myself.”