Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish everyone a happy International Women's Day. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly.

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on this issue and to confirm that the Government is firmly committed to the development of a new national maternity hospital on the St. Vincent's University Hospital campus at Elm Park. It should be acknowledged that the national maternity hospital project is unprecedented and inherently complex, given that we are relocating one voluntary hospital onto the campus of another voluntary hospital to a hospital building owned by the State. Therefore, a legal framework is being developed to protect the State's investment in the new national maternity hospital and to ensure that the hospital remains in State ownership.

The hospital will be built on the site leased from the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group. I am satisfied that its development on a site with a leasehold interest of 99 years and rights of renewal will not in any way compromise the provision of maternity care for future generations. On the contrary, by building the new hospital, we will secure maternity care for future generations of women.

The corporate and clinical governance arrangements for the new maternity hospital at Elm Park are encompassed in the Mulvey agreement, which was finalised following an extensive mediation process between the National Maternity Hospital and the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group.The Mulvey agreement provides for the establishment of a new company, the national maternity hospital at Elm Park DAC, which will have clinical and operational as well as financial and budgetary independence in the provision of maternity, gynaecological and neonatal services. It ensures a full range of services will be available at the hospital without religious, ethnic or other distinction. It is important to emphasise that those overriding objectives will be copper-fastened through the legal framework. I acknowledge that the development of the legal framework has proved to be more difficult and deliberations more protracted than originally anticipated, but I understand there has been good ongoing engagement between the key stakeholders. I am advised it is anticipated that discussions will be concluded and the drafting of the legal documents finalised in the coming weeks. It should be noted that once finalised, the legal framework will be brought to the Government for approval.

I am conscious the buildings in Holles Street are no longer fit for purpose. The national maternity strategy sets out a vision for future maternity services where women are treated with dignity and respect in an appropriate physical environment. We must now move forward with building the new national maternity hospital and providing the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the delivery of modern, safe, high-quality maternity services for women and infants.