Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

We all want a safe modern national maternity hospital. No one challenges that. No one challenges the preference that it be co-located. The KPMG report in 2008 indicated that and the Government went by that report. However, eight years on from 2013 and 13 years on from that report, we are in a situation where the Religious Sisters of Charity still have control over this hospital being built.

The St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group said it must retain ownership of the lands for clinical governance and operational reasons, including the provision of a safe, integrated system of care for patients between the hospitals. The group has said “No”. What is the Government prepared to do? We back the Taoiseach on this. Everybody outside this building supports this being owned by the State and Government for the people of Ireland.

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