Government looking at measures to speed up delivery of new National Maternity Hospital

Speaking after the Cabinet meeting, Mr Donnelly said the Government agreement to process with the relocation plan is an "important milestone" for maternity services in Ireland. Picture: Gareth Chaney / Collins Photos

The Government is looking at measures to speed up the delivery of the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH), however, the facility will take "several" years to build.

The Cabinet has signed off on contentious plans to build the new facility on the same site as St Vincent's Hospital. While the building will be owned by the State, the land will be leased for 299 years.

The Health Minister said potential ways of ensuring the hospital is built as quickly as possible was also discussed by ministers at their weekly meeting.

Stephen Donnelly said officials in his department expect the development of the hospital to take four and a half years from a tender process. However, he pointed to the fact that tender stage on significant projects can take up to two years.

"We had a discussion this morning about can anything be done to speed that up.

"We are going to look to see if there are other ways that we can shorten, for example, the procurement [stage]. 

"The advantage we have here is a lot is done, so planning permission is done, the design is done, the co-location is done, the legal agreements are all in place, work has already been done on site on the pharmacy and on the enabling works. So, we're further ahead in a lot of ways," Mr Donnelly said.

However, he warned that "even with the best will in the world" construction of the hospital will take several years.

Speaking after the Cabinet meeting, Mr Donnelly said the Government agreement to process with the relocation plan is an "important milestone" for maternity services in Ireland.

He added that the concerns that had been raised around the ownership and governance structure of the new hospital had been "comprehensively addressed".