The row between the National Maternity Hospital and St Vincent’s Hospital over their co-location plans has deepened after a top obstetrician said the latter’s insistence on giving its Catholic-ethos board control over its new neighbour made no sense.

The war of words in the National Maternity Hospital row grew more entrenched over the weekend, as both sides accused the other of peddling mistruths.

A leading private hospital has been accused of having a “parasitic dependence” on a linked public facility after it emerged more than half of its consultants have been wrongly taken from the public wing.