Still no deal on who will own National Maternity Hospital

A deal has not been reached on who will build, own and run the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) despite planners giving it the go-ahead this week.

The estimated €300m project, which would see Holles St Hospital relocate to the St Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) campus in South Dublin, was almost derailed in May amid fears it would be “run by nuns” who would insist on a Catholic ethos.

The Religious Sisters of Charity owned the land at SVUH and were shareholders in St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG), which the Department of Health said would be “sole owner” of the hospital”. However, the nuns’ decision to end their involvement in SVHG and to transfer ownership of the group to a new company in which the Sisters would have no involvement seemed to set the project back on track.