Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The rationale I have heard from St. Vincent's has been about the management of the site. The site will have a public hospital, a private hospital, a maternity hospital, general practitioner services, screening services, pharmacies, community-based services and many other services. For the management of the site as a healthcare campus, there should be single ownership. Many of the shared services for the entire campus will also be provided at the maternity hospital and university hospital. We are building shared services for the entire campus as part of the national maternity hospital. I was recently in Texas Medical Center just outside Houston. I am told it is the biggest healthcare campus anywhere in the world. It is a voluntary healthcare campus, with a huge variety of healthcare providers. Despite that, there is one owner of the campus, which is the Texas Medical Center. St. Vincent's is applying the same logic here.

I am in the realm of speculation now, so forgive me. All of the debate is about why we should trust St. Vincent's. People say that it is a fantastic healthcare provider. There is narrative about whether something is inherently wrong with St. Vincent's, even though it has provided fantastic healthcare for many years. From St. Vincent's perspective, it has to ask what the long-term motivations of the State are. It could sell, we could become its freehold owner, then the Government might decide in 70 years that it is done with the maternity hospital, to merge the Coombe and the national maternity hospital, and to build a brand new hospital in Blanchardstown.

St. Vincent's wants this as a healthcare campus for many years to come.