The former secretary general of the Department of Finance has criticised the Government’s lack of forward planning.

John Moran said that the location of the new National Children’s Hospital was chosen based on the assumption that it should be in Dublin – rather than any need for it to be in the city.

He said that we need to reassess how we think about investment in key pieces of infrastructure.

Mr Moran also stated that Ireland should be learning from the example of other countries who have successfully developed smaller cities.

“Aarhus in Denmark – it was designated to have a hospital of one of the six superhospitals, and it is now the largest hospital in Denmark, in a city of only 250,000 people,” he said.

“But a city that’s also planning a rapid transport system, or a light rail system, because they expect to grow to 350,000 people.

“What I’m saying is – we don’t have that type of forward planning.”