Dr. Peter Boylan:

It may be that they feel only maternity and gynaecological stuff should take place in the hospital. The hospital is linked up by corridors. The theatres, in the design, are all on the same corridor. The numbers of deliveries in maternity hospitals vary from time to time. The numbers in Holles Street have gone down by 25% in recent years, while those in the Rotunda have gone up significantly. The numbers in 2020 were as low as they were in 1994. One could envisage a situation where there are empty rooms in the national maternity hospital and the theatres are not being used, say on a weekend when there are no routine gynaecological procedures. What is predictable is that St. Vincent's is overflowing with people on trolleys in the emergency room and the corridors. Adjoining that are empty rooms in the national maternity hospital. Then there is the board structure. There are three from St. Vincent's, as well as three ministerial appointees who will be under political pressure not to have overcrowding in St. Vincent's Hospital while there are empty rooms nearby in a hospital whose operating company is owned by St. Vincent's. One can easily see how there would be seepage from St. Vincent's into the national maternity hospital space. If that triggers the €850,0000 per year or gives rise to conflict, the Minister is the person who will sort it out. I do not think any Minister for Health would say "No" and that St. Vincent's Hospital was to be kept overcrowded to the stage of severe patient safety issues-----