Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health David Cullinane TD has said that the option for public ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital site is in doubt.

Following a meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee with the Minister for Health on the new National Maternity Hospital, Teachta Cullinane said:

“When the Tánaiste shared concerns in the Dáil raised by the opposition about the ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital site, the impression was given that the government was being or had been proactive on the issue.

“The truth is that the sitting Minister for Health had not raised the option of purchasing the site until after the Tánaiste and Taoiseach’s remarks.

“This is again more lazy, last-minute interventions by a government that are at sixes and sevens.

“The government that is going to build the most expensive Children’s Hospital in the world is now messing up the building of the National Maternity Hospital too.

“It seems that the government does not have a clue when it comes to building hospitals.

“The idea of public ownership was never fully explored, and St Vincent’s Healthcare Group were under the impression that the lease agreement was government policy.

“The Minister was only able to tell us this morning that no options are off the table, but that any change to plans would lead to years of delay.

“We still do not know if the site will be public or privately owned, if the hospital will be located on a different site, or if the land will be purchased by the state.

“It seems the only option which the government is committed to is to plough ahead with a public hospital on private land because it did not do its due diligence.”