Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One thing is certain, and it is that Ireland needs a new national maternity hospital. This seems to be the only aspect of the current plans that is not shrouded in uncertainty. Plans to provide a modern maternity hospital at Elm Park date back to 2013 and at that time, the project had an estimated cost of €150million. The following years were dominated by disputes over governance of the new hospital and this included a frustratingly long period during which legalities moved at snail's pace as the Sisters of Charity waited for permission from the Holy See on transferring the shareholding to the newly formed St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group.

We now know that despite the efforts of the Government to purchase the site, St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group is insisting on retaining ownership of the site. The Mulvey arrangement was put on the table as the solution in 2017 but why did it take so long for the penny to drop in Government circles that this formula was unacceptable to the Government? Here we are eight years later still in stalemate.

Despite efforts by the Tánaiste to remain focused on the fundamental issue of ownership of the site, the public and media debate has now switched focus to what range of services will be provided at the new maternity hospital. I fully understand the correlation and the concerns about future services but until we have finality on the site we do not have a hospital to provide services of any kind. Other matters of importance must not overshadow this fact. Until this matter is successfully concluded and concerns on safeguarding public investment are addressed, the new national maternity hospital will remain, as it has been for years, an architect's drawing.

As with the national children's hospital, nobody is disputing the absolute need for a new national maternity hospital. These purpose-built, modern and vital facilities are needed. The mothers of Ireland deserve modern accommodation, high-tech equipment and top-class support services. Despite the clear need, they cannot be provided at any cost, financial or otherwise. They cannot start out at one figure and then double, triple and quadruple as time goes on. They cannot be built on sites that may result in legal wrangles for future generations.

Based on the lessons we have learned and continue to learn from the children’s hospital, we must ensure our successors are not standing here again in years to come grappling with issues arising from a national State-owned hospital standing on charity-owned ground. This is the primary matter that needs to be set in stone before we concentrate on the provision of services that we have already been assured will be provided at the State-owned hospital. The horse must remain in front of the cart if we are to progress this project.

Issues such as those that arose with the national children’s hospital and those that have emerged in relation to the new national maternity hospital beg the question as to why we struggle in this country when it comes to the delivery of major projects. Why are they permitted to drag on in an open-ended fashion, causing frustrating delays and alarming cost overruns without serious repercussions, after years of procrastination and prevarication? After years of dancing around the ownership issue, we are now back to the crossroads. We are told that the cost of the project has shot up to €800 million. It really is a mess and an embarrassing saga that reflects poorly on the competence of our national administrators.

Why are we so inept at delivering State-funded facilities? Our abject failure to address the alarming issues of responsibility and accountability is a damning indictment of our procurement structures and procedures.

See this speech in context