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

The Deputy has laid out the chronology of the situation on the new national maternity hospital and a new modern facility. The first prerequisite and objective of Government is to make sure that we can build a hospital that serves the women and children of the nation into the years ahead and that we build a first-class maternity facility with a neonatal facility co-located with a tertiary hospital. This has been the strategy in the development of maternity hospitals now for quite some time.

That said, there has been a dispute between the two voluntary hospitals involved. This is well-known and we had the Mulvey report and mediation that the then Government facilitated for the two hospitals. We are very clear that parallel with ensuring the best of modern care for women in this country in a modern, state-of-the-art maternity facility, there has to be proper State governance and ownership of the hospital itself. There have been ongoing negotiations. This Government is in office for 12 months. The Minister is treating, and will treat, this matter urgently and is engaging in consultations and meetings with the stakeholders involved.

There is an issue around the governance model and in the public interest being represented in respect of that governance. I do not intend to discuss detailed costs because that is not helpful until we see tenders, and so on. We cannot be specific about costs and people should not be bandying around hundreds of millions of euro because those are just guesstimates at this stage. We need more in terms of the public articulation of figures. The tendering processes, etc., will dictate to a certain extent that reality. The programme for Government committed this Government to conclude the governance arrangements and to commence the building of the new maternity hospital at St. Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin and that is what we intend to do through engagement with the stakeholders.

However, I am very conscious of the fact that when it comes to the ownership issue, the State is investing here and that it is taxpayer funding that is facilitating the construction of this hospital. Equally, in the new era that we are in now and as we go forward, as the State invests, the State should own.

There is a history to this, which predates this Government. We have to deal with but it involves two voluntary hospitals coming together on a site that is owned by one of the hospitals. The State has made significant investment in St. Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin over the years and continues to invest in both current and capital expenditure in the hospital proper. The State will fund the construction of the maternity hospital itself in its entirety and that has to be taken on board in respect of agreements and the conclusion of discussions on both the issues around ownership and governance arrangements. That is the intent of Government as it engages with the stakeholders on this particular issue.

I am deeply conscious and acutely aware of the less than optimal conditions and facilities now obtaining in the current facility and that has been the case for quite a number of years. That is why there has been a genuine sense to bring this to a conclusion because the women of Ireland deserve better facilities than are currently available in Holles Street.

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