David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Deputies on both sides of the House who spoke in this debate. I finish as I started by stating that I want to see a new national maternity hospital. I want it to be built as quickly as possible and to ensure it is a public hospital in public ownership. It is absolutely breathtaking and amazing to see the lengths to which the Government will go to sell what I see as a bad deal. The repeated assertion that black is white and that the State will own the land, when, clearly, the freehold of that land will be retained and owned by the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group, is quite amazing.

Those who make that argument know exactly the point we are making. The reason an HSE hospital will not be built is that the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group will retain the freehold and ownership of the land. A new company, National Maternity Hospital at Elm Park, is being established because St. Vincent's Healthcare Group does not want an HSE hospital operating on its land, co-locating with the public and private hospitals that are there. This, for me, goes completely against the spirit of Sláintecare. When asked for its reason for not gifting the land to the State, St. Vincent's Healthcare Group said it wanted an integrated model of healthcare, with all the hospitals co-located under the umbrella of the group and the establishment of a new company, which will run and manage the new maternity hospital.

It also is quite breathtaking that the Cabinet signed off on this decision today in the full knowledge that there have been no real, substantive talks with St. Vincent's Healthcare Group over the past number of months, nor, in fact, if the chairman of the group is to be believed, over the past number of years. No pressure was brought to bear on it, either by the Minister for Health or the Taoiseach. There certainly were no high-level talks in regard to the ownership of the land. Instead, the white flag was raised and all of the excuses have been rolled out as to why St. Vincent's Healthcare Group simply will not gift the land to the State.

As I have raised with the Ceann Comhairle on several occasions in the past, it is deeply cynical of the Government to say it will not oppose a motion and then not implement what is called for in that particular motion. We are being told the Rural Independent Group Deputies will call a vote on this motion, as is their right. If there is a vote, let us be clear about what it is for which people, including Government Deputies, are voting. They will be voting on the text of the motion, which commits the Government to "pursue the full realisation of the promise that was made by the [Religious Sisters of Charity] to give the land to the people of Ireland". It commits the Government to "engage, at the highest level, with the new ownership group behind [St. Vincent's Healthcare Group], St. Vincent's Holdings CLG, to secure full public ownership of the site and new building, with all necessary safeguards, wayleaves, and guarantees to ensure the integrity, integration and highest quality of care on the site". That is what Government Members will be voting on tomorrow, if there is a vote. They cannot speak from two sides of their mouth on this issue. They will have an opportunity tomorrow to vote in favour of this motion, which I hope they do. If Ministers and Government Members come in here tomorrow and vote in favour of the motion, which commits the Government to do very clear and explicit things, then those things need to be done. If they are not, it will amount to a deeply cynical move by the Government and it will further heighten the concerns people have about this arrangement.

Speakers on the Government side have made the argument again here today that the ownership of the land and other concerns have now been addressed and there is nothing overly complex about all of this. However, we have also heard the Minister once again try to explain the very difficult and complex legal and contractual arrangements that are being put in place. The new company that is being formed will have its own constitution and its own board. The directors will come from three different sources, as we know, and it will be a subsidiary of St. Vincent's Healthcare Group. The latter owns the freehold and it will have a lease arrangement and a licence arrangement with the HSE. That company is owned by St. Vincent's Holdings CLG. There is a huge amount of unnecessary complication around this. Why is that? It is because the company does not want to build an HSE hospital on that site. That is the bottom line and it is wrong. It is not the best way to build the new national maternity hospital.

Colleagues opposite will have their chance tomorrow to vote. If they vote for the motion, I guarantee that we will make sure to hold them to account in delivering on it.

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