Mr. James Menton:

Basically, it was to try to get an agreement between two voluntary hospitals and the State that respects the interests of the State, which is investing substantial amounts of taxpayers' money in the project, as well as the interests of the National Maternity Hospital, and ensures its clinical, operational and financial independence will be respected when it transfers to Elm Park. From our perspective, it was to protect our ability to provide services to our patients. There was a multiplicity of issues around that. I compliment Kieran Mulvey on the mediation and his report. Although there are legal agreements about various matters, the reality is that if the Government gives the go-ahead, the Mulvey report will be essentially implemented in full, save for a rebalancing of representation on the board. The original Mulvey report called for four board representatives from St. Vincent's, four from the Holles Street Trust and one independent expert. That has been rebalanced in the past year such that there will be three, three and three. Each partner will have three representatives. The Mulvey report also referred to a lien over the building. To answer the Chairman's point directly, that certainly has consumed quite a lot of discussion in the context of giving effect to the protection of the State's interest.