Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My understanding is that the negotiations between the stakeholders were complex, that there were multiple legal firms involved in looking at a way to flesh out the Mulvey agreement and that it was not an easy process. Significant process has been made this year. I wanted to see significant progress last year but we were, obviously, very focused on Covid and many other issues. This year, much progress has been made and I would be confident that we are close to a final agreement. I take Deputy Shortall's point that my predecessor said the same, and no doubt he believed it at that point. The indications I have are that we are close to an agreement.

With regard to site ownership, for me, it is mainly symbolic. The governance issues can be dealt with largely through the legal agreement, the reserve powers, the public interest directors, etc. I do not believe who owns the site has an impact on the clinical and operational independence of the hospital. That is an issue that we have to take extremely seriously, and we are. As I stated previously, I will only bring a recommendation to Government when I am convinced that it is absolutely watertight in terms of the operational and legal independence.

The ownership of the site versus what is on the table now, for example, a 150 year lease, does not make a difference in operational terms or in terms of independence, but it is clearly the case that many people in Ireland would like it. As people said, if you were building your house, you would prefer to build it on land that you owned rather than on land that you were leasing.