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 National Maternity Hospital site for 299 years.
An increase in the number of public interest directors on the board of the new hospital is also being proposed.
St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, owner of the Elm Park site in south Dublin, last night 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.
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.
However, Coalition leaders have expressed concerns about aspects of the hospital's governance.
Ministers’ preference was for the State to buy the site outright, but St Vincent’s Healthcare Group said it must retain ownership “for clinical, governance and operational reasons”.
New terms for the lease are yet to be agreed, but one senior participant involved in the talks said "it's getting close".
