Professor Shane Higgins:

I will start the answer. I cannot answer for St. Vincent's Healthcare Group. I will give the answer to the Deputy from the National Maternity Hospital perspective. We never sought to move to St. Vincent's as a State-owned, HSE hospital. We have been a voluntary hospital on the site since 1894. We can talk about the buildings. The newest building will be 100 years old. It is therefore time to move. I will speak about what the voluntary hospitals offer and what we offer. We can look at element of women’s health in this country, such as the termination of pregnancy. On 7 January 2019, which was a week after I became master, we held our first clinic. The voluntary hospitals have the capacity to adapt and move much quicker than the HSE hospitals. There was never a conversation with the National Maternity Hospital, either with my predecessor, with the board, with myself, or with anybody else involved in the project, about moving to St. Vincent's as a HSE hospital. It is just not on our radar.