A private development consortium has offered to build the proposed new National Children's Hospital on the western outskirts of Dublin City.
Alburn Development, controlled by solicitor Noel Smith, says it will build the hospital on its 32-acre site off the Naas Road between the Red Cow roundabout and Newlands Cross.
A spokeswoman said the consortium would develop the land on "a cost or non-profit basis" which could save the taxpayer up to €250 million.
She said the company had submitted a detailed plan for the hospital and an adjoining women's unit to the Health Service Executive's task group which is in charge of locating a site.
The HSE confirmed today that it had received a submission from Alburn.
But it noted that the submission did not provide for an adult teaching academic hospital to be located nearby as required.
In a statement, the HSE said it was very conscious of its responsibilities regarding the financial aspects of this project.
"The major costs associated with a new Children's Hospital will centre on running costs and the staffing of the hospital which will far exceed any capital costs involved in the building of the facility," it added.
The task group - which includes HSE personnel and Department of Health officials - is due make its recommendation on the future location of the new hospital to the HSE board next month.
Plans for a single national children's hospital were announced in February after the publication of a report which found that the State, given its population, could support only one world-class paediatric hospital.
The report effectively threw up in the air all previous plans for the development of paediatric hospital services.
Up to then, it had been envisaged that the country's largest children's hospital, Our Lady's in Crumlin, would be rebuilt, probably on a new greenfield site. Temple Street hospital was also to move - to a new development on the Mater hospital campus.
The study recommended the national centre be located in Dublin, close to a leading adult academic hospital with space for future expansion and must be easily accessible through public transport and the road network.
Seven Dublin hospitals are understood to have expressed an interest in becoming the site for the national children's hospital.
