Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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I know but I will ask this question as it is crucial. In 2018, St. Vincent's Healthcare Group was valued at €661 million. The Minister told us that we pay €300 million to St. Vincent's Healthcare Group every year. Surely, we could have a compulsory purchase order, CPO, for this site. That issue of the CPO and why we are not doing it is crucial. I mention alienating the land and alienating the land being a long process. Is the reason we cannot have a CPO that there is a mortgage on the grounds? If so, that problem becomes worse in that St. Vincent's Holdings CLG can, under its constitution, issue new mortgages on that site. That problem deepens if we allow a body to create mortgages on that site - further future mortgages. Can the Minister clarify if the reason we cannot compulsorily purchase the site that there is a mortgage on this site from Bank of Ireland or is it that we are worried St. Vincent's Healthcare Group will fight us in the courts? Can we estimate the comparable costs of those two actions? Is it because we would have to buy the full St. Vincent's Healthcare Group which, as I said, was valued in 2018 at €661 million. This is just twice what we pay it every year.