Government threatened with legal action over children’s hospital name

The Government is facing legal action from a US hospital over the name of the new national children’s hospital in Dublin.

The Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Arizona has said it will “pursue all available legal remedies” if the Irish hospital is named the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Ireland as planned.

The threat was set out in a letter to Health Minister Simon Harris.

In a follow-up letter, Mr Harris was told that “patients and the public are confusing our two organisations” and the confusion was posing “risks to those who rely upon our hospitals and to our respective reputations and creates needless legal exposures”.