299 Year Lease Suggested For New National Maternity Hospital

Saturday, 23 October 2021 11:25

By Ross Lindsay

Plans to move Hospital have been stalled over land ownership controversy.

New proposals are being put forward, aimed at settling the row over the governance of the National Maternity Hospital.

The Irish Times reports that the State will take control of the new Hospital site for a lease of 299 years.

Plans to move the National Maternity Hospital from Holles Street to the St Vincent’s campus have been bogged down in controversy for eight years.

The Sisters of Charity are due to transfer the ownership of lands at St Vincent’s to an independent entity, which would then lease the new maternity hospital site to the State.

The Government has always rejected claims that a Catholic ethos would remain at the facility, insisting the new hospital will have operational and clinical independence.

Last night, the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, owner of the Elm Park site in south Dublin, told the Irish Times that agreements had been reached with the public authorities, to change the terms on which the new hospital will be governed.

Under the new arrangment, there will be three directors representing the public interest, an increase of 2.

The change comes after concerns were raised by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.

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