Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Cabinet this afternoon signed off on the deal for the new national maternity hospital. Instead of securing a clean-cut transaction where the site will come into public ownership, the deal ensures the hospital will have a private landlord under a very convoluted ownership model. This is the wrong decision. It falls short of protecting the State's proposed investment of between €800 million and €1 billion of taxpayers' money. It is obvious that the best way to safeguard this investment and allay public concern is for the Government to secure the transfer of the land into State ownership by means of a clear and explicit agreement that ensures we get a publicly built national maternity hospital on publicly owned land. I asked the Taoiseach several times, together with the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, to get around the table with the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group in order to convince it to agree to that transfer. I am of the view that such a high-level Government initiative would have yielded success.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health, the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group confirmed the Sisters of Charity transferred the land to the group without precondition. This means that there is no legal barrier to the land transfer. It is entirely within the gift of the group. Yet it transpires that far from proactively seeking the best outcome, the Taoiseach and the Government made no real effort to secure State ownership of that land. Last week, the Minister for Health told the Dáil he had formally requested the land be transferred to the State. However, what the chair of the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group told the committee yesterday directly contradicts the Minister. Mr. Menton said that the last time the State directly engaged with the group as regards bringing land into public ownership was five years ago. It gets worse because Mr. Menton also said the group has received no correspondence from the Taoiseach requesting the land be transferred to the State. This is something the Taoiseach later confirmed to the media. We know now that neither he nor the Minister for Health made any serious or meaningful effort to bring this land into State ownership.

The Taoiseach came before the House and told us that such a transaction was not possible, but the truth is that he did not even bother to ask. He has now signed off on a deal that fails to provide the best protection for almost €1 billion of taxpayers' money and copper-fastens an ownership model whereby a critical piece of public infrastructure will have a private landlord. Is an socrú a shínigh an Rialtas ar maidin an socrú mícheart don ospidéal náisiúnta máithreachais nua. An bealach is fearr chun infheistíocht an Stáit a chosaint ná má aimsíonn an Rialtas úinéireacht Stáit ar an talamh. Everyone in the House wants this hospital built. We want it built quickly and we want a new departure in maternity care. I absolutely accept the Taoiseach's bona fides in all those regards but what is at issue is the failure of the Government to secure the land in public ownership. This is big stuff. The contract the Government signed locks the State into a deal whereby the State does not have ownership of the site for the national maternity hospital. I ask the Taoiseach to directly explain why neither he nor the Minister for Health made any real or significant effort to secure State ownership of that land.

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