Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I certainly cannot recall giving the Deputy any assurance about anything because the Government has not signed off on anything in relation to this. It is a pity that the issue was not raised on Leaders' Questions because the shortness of time to reply on the Order of Business does not allow one to give a more comprehensive account. As far as I am concerned, there is one very significant issue here, which is the safety of women in particular in terms of building a modern maternity hospital. I have often been struck by the fact that we have only managed this in one location, which is in Cork, where we have a modern maternity hospital with a neonatal facility. Everyone agreed way back that we should have co-location in terms of optimal best outcomes for women in particular and that is why the original idea of the national maternity hospital co-locating with St. Vincent's Hospital arose. I do not think people want to unwind that idea of co-location and that creates its own context for this. That said, nobody wants, in this day and age, a national maternity hospital built by the State to be influenced by any church.

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