'Utterly intolerable' ownership deal for National Maternity Hospital dominates Dáil

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan defended the deal, claiming 'a further delay' is not needed in the long-awaited project

An artist's impression of the planned National Maternity Hospital. The proposed ownership arrangements relating to the new National Maternity Hospital are “kafkaesque” and “utterly intolerable,” the Dáil has heard.

The proposed ownership arrangements relating to the new National Maternity Hospital are “kafkaesque” and “utterly intolerable,” the Dáil has heard.

The new hospital will not be up and running before 2030 even if it was signed off tomorrow, and the proposed arrangements “are strange” and not what you would design from the beginning, the Government has heard.

“A further delay is not what is needed now,” Green Party leader Eamon Ryan answered for Government.

The issue dominated Leaders’ Questions on Thursday and Mr Ryan sought to dismiss Opposition concerns by saying there will be “no religious ethos” under the proposed arrangement which will see the State lease the land for 299 years.

He was responding to questions from Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty and Social Democrats leader Roisin Shortall who both cited previous comments by Mr Ryan before he was in Government which sought to oppose any form of a lease arrangement.

Mr Doherty sought to highlight that members of the HSE board in March dissented from the decision to press ahead with this arrangement, according to published minutes.

Mr Doherty asked why the State doesn’t simply buy the site from St Vincent’s to ensure public ownership. Ms Shortall said the actual rent stipulated in the lease agreement is €850,000 a year.

It has been reduced to €10, as long as six conditions are complied with, including the landlord St Vincent's holdings retain a controlling stake over the use of the hospital, she said.

“If these conditions are breached, the rent reverts upwards. Can you explain why this punitive penalty clause exists,” she asked.

Ms Shortall asked if everyone agrees that it is legally feasible that the State could buy the site, and that outcome is expressly provided for in legal documents. Why isn't the State just buying the site, she asked.

In response, Mr Ryan said the records show that the previous government and this government did approach St Vincent’s with a view to buy the land outright. 

St Vincent’s said no, insisting they decided that they wanted to run as a voluntary hospital.

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Mr Ryan said that the 299-year lease is effective ownership and the promise of a co-locating arrangement with the primary St Vincent’s Hospital is a good thing. He said walking away from this arrangement would not be the right thing to do given the delays it would cause.

Ms Shortall accused Mr Ryan of being disingenuous, saying that the structure of the St Vincent’s companies will change, claiming the new St Vincent’s holding company will legally control the hospital.

Independent TD Catherine Connolly, representing the independent group of TDs, hit out at the repeated failure of the Government to answer direct questions in the Dáil from concerned TDs.

“I can see absolutely no reason for all this complexity,” she said in clear exasperation with the responses she was receiving from Mr Ryan.

Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, last night wrote to Oireachtas health committee chairman Seán Crowe citing strong legal guarantees that the hospital would provide “all legally permissible services” including abortion, “gender-affirming surgery and assisted human reproduction”. 

The minister said he would attend the committee next week to discuss the project.