Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Department of Health

Government 'hasn't ruled out' CPO of National Maternity Hospital site

The Tánaiste said it is not clear whether the owners of the land are willing to discuss the sale.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS not ruled out using a compulsory purchase order to acquire the new National Maternity Hospital site, the Tánaiste has said.

Speaking to RTÉ’s This Week, Leo Varadkar said a compulsory purchase order (CPO) is “a possibility” but that it would be complicated.

“That can take years, it’s kind of a land-locked site, it’s a site within the wider Vincent’s campus which creates complications too and the risk of going down the CPO route will be that we might lost the cooperation of St Vincent’s, if we were to go down that route to take them to court to CPO the land,” he said.

“So it’s not an option we have ruled out, but we would much rather agree a sale. If they’re willing to talk about that then we are too.”

The hospital is currently located at Holles Street in Dublin city centre, but is set to move to Elm Park, where it will be co-located with St Vincent’s Hospital.

During the week, Varadkar flagged concerns over the governance and ownership of the hospital. The Religious Sisters of Charity, which owns the land, is transferring it to a new private charity St Vincent’s Holing CLG. It will then be leased to the State for 99 years.

Directors and members of this new private charity are the shareholders of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, of which the Sisters of Charity are the sole shareholders.

Varadkar said it is important to note that the hospital itself will be owned by the State and it will provide any obstetric or gynaecological service available in the State to women.

“I think there are people who are maybe trying to question that more than they should because what’s the case in Holles Street now will be the case in the new National Maternity Hospital,” he said.

However Varadkar said “historic arrangements” about the makeup of the new hospital’s board should be changed to ensure that the government can appoint members.

“The current position is that there won’t be any and I have a problem with that,” he said.

He said it is his understanding that there is correspondence between the Department of Health and St Vincent’s “in which St Vincent’s say they are not willing to discuss the sale of that particular parcel of land”.

He said the government is willing to talk to “whoever we need to talk to” about buying the land but said it is not clear to him “whether they’re willing to talk to us about it”.

The Tánaiste said moving the project to an alternative site “would not be a good result” as it would set it back ten years.

“I don’t think that would be a good outcome for the women and children of Ireland, who need this new facility as soon as possible,” he said.

Also speaking to RTÉ, Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy said the ownership of the site “is the critical issue” and the governance of the hospital “has to be secular”. 

She acknowledged that a compulsory purchase order “is not ideal and certainly would add to the delays”, but this site was selected because the ideal situation is to have it co-located with an acute hospital. 

If it’s a question that the ideal is not going to be available, moving to a different location would be a last resort. But if it’s the last resort, that last resort will be very much determined by those who currently own the site at the moment. And I think that would be hugely regrettable, given all that has transpired in the past.

In a statement this week, the Religious Sisters of Charity said it has “never at any point been contacted by government or the State to discuss purchasing the site at SVHG”.

“It has not been involved in any functions or operations of the SVHG since 2017 when it stepped down from the Board. It has not been involved in any way with the appointment of Directors to either to St. Vincent’s Holdings CLG (the new company established by St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group) or indeed to the existing SVHG Board since it ceased all involvement in 2017.”

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
24 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute
    Favourite
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 4:48 PM

    Why don’t the government build a brand new hospital off the M50 accessible by road and public transport a hospital that’s not smack bang in the middle of the city and while building the hospital make it so that it has a helipad and no neighbours to protest every time a helicopter has to land in the nearest Rugby/GAA pitch and to alíviate not landing in a pitch have the helipad on the hospital roof. For the love and honour agree a final price all included and tie the contractor into it.

    272
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Roy Dowling
    Favourite Roy Dowling
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 7:43 PM

    This hospital isn’t smack bang in the middle the city centre. The hospital has a bus routes stop outside both entrance to the grounds. Sydney parade dart station is 5 minutes walk away. And there is a multi story carpark on the site with another currently under construction.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ChronicAnxiety
    Favourite ChronicAnxiety
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 7:58 PM

    @Roy Dowling: it is a NATIONAL maternity hospital , not a South county Dublin Maternity hospital,

    71
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute EillieEs
    Favourite EillieEs
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 8:21 PM

    @ChronicAnxiety: the point is that the St Vincent’s site is easily accessible by public transport as well as car.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute EillieEs
    Favourite EillieEs
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 8:34 PM

    @: the whole point of locating it alongside a general hospital and not as a stand-alone on the M50 was that in the case of complications there’d be immediate access to the emergency services that an acute general hospital provides.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rory J Leonard
    Favourite Rory J Leonard
    Report
    Jun 21st 2021, 7:48 AM

    @Roy Dowling:

    “Sydney Parade Dart Station is five minutes walk away”

    Ronnie Delaney, in his prime, wouldn’t have ran the true distance in that time!

    I wouldn’t be using that as a selling point for the proposed new maternity hospital!

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave Barrett
    Favourite Dave Barrett
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 4:32 PM

    Looks like another disaster like the children’s hospital is on the cards.

    206
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jeff Rudd
    Favourite Jeff Rudd
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 6:35 PM

    @Dave Barrett: If BAM has anything to do with it – yes!

    53
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Darren Carroll
    Favourite Darren Carroll
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 4:35 PM

    Must be an election coming soon somewhere, chap is working overtime this weekend

    110
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ChronicAnxiety
    Favourite ChronicAnxiety
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 8:01 PM

    @Darren Carroll: FG are getting in it on the streets of DBS , does not help that James Geoghegan is on the board of the national maternity hospital and a founding member of renua.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dan
    Favourite Dan
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 4:36 PM

    Just start afresh….ask for the so called land that they handed over to be given over fully, no strings, no lease, no funny business.. any strings attached just walk away….everyone will see it as it is…dont waste a penny of our money on those folks… look for land that we do own and build there

    93
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mickety Dee
    Favourite Mickety Dee
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 4:43 PM

    @Dan: I think the sister’s of charity want to be paid for the land. It seems charity doesn’t extend to the provision of a maternity hospital

    89
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Skipper Mac
    Favourite Skipper Mac
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 5:35 PM

    @Mickety Dee: as far as I know Sisters of Charity are happy to give the land for the expansion of Saint Vincent’s and the new Maternity Hospital. However under the condition that the ethos of the hospital would remain Catholic.

    29
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mickety Dee
    Favourite Mickety Dee
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 6:10 PM

    @Skipper Mac: But that’s not being offered.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jeff Rudd
    Favourite Jeff Rudd
    Report
    Jun 21st 2021, 11:45 AM

    @Skipper Mac: @Skipper Mac: They were to gift it to the state – they stated this – but instead, actually gifted it to a further religious setup connected to themselves.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pete Lee
    Favourite Pete Lee
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 6:46 PM

    Have they paid money owed from abuse agreements?

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Annmarie Taylor
    Favourite Annmarie Taylor
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 7:02 PM

    @Pete Lee: No of course not.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute DB
    Favourite DB
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 5:25 PM

    The mind boggles that even St Vincent’s have to be asked to give the land .

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Benny McHale
    Favourite Benny McHale
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 7:36 PM

    Get the Chinese to design and build a maternity hospital on the Naas Road. They’d have it done in a couple of months.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute leartius
    Favourite leartius
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 9:23 PM

    It’s such a laugh. Think back to 2017. In march 2017 Leo announced
    Leo Varadkar says Government ‘cannot seize church lands’.
    “A referendum on giving the Government powers to seize lands owned by the Catholic Church in order to recoup a shortfall in payments for abuse victims would probably be lost, Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has said.
    Mr Varadkar was speaking after Minister for Health Simon Harris said there would be “significant merit” in seizing hospital and school property in light of a report which showed shortcomings in the church’s contribution to a redress scheme for those abused in Catholic institutions.”
    4 years later, Leo Varadkar says Government ‘hasn’t ruled out’ CPO of National Maternity Hospital site. That’s some comfort.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean
    Favourite Sean
    Report
    Jun 20th 2021, 9:34 PM

    @leartius: I’m not entirely sure what your point is. I don’t think you are either. A CPO is a forced sale but it’s not the same as seizing. And he’s still saying it can’t be done so it’s not like he’s changed his tune.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ron Ashenden
    Favourite Ron Ashenden
    Report
    Jun 21st 2021, 9:07 AM

    Can someone tell me why it has to be built in Dublin and not for the whole of the country say Mullingar

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Martin Sinnott
    Favourite Martin Sinnott
    Report
    Jun 21st 2021, 7:28 AM

    Stop. Shame on the politicians
    .l just start building

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Martin Sinnott
    Favourite Martin Sinnott
    Report
    Jun 21st 2021, 7:27 AM

    Stop. Sh

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds