Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said the decision 11 years ago to move the Rotunda to the Connolly Hospital site in Blanchardstown was an "old decision" based on the "broader principle" of making sure the patient safety aspect of the policy was "met".
"And that's still our concern, and the policy remains, and it's very clear that we need that in the case of the National Maternity Hospital and others."
"But the Rotunda would have been the one we would have come to last, being very frank," she said.
Yesterday, it was confirmed that the Government had dropped the co-location policy of moving the maternity hospital, which is located on Parnell Square in Dublin, to Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown.
Opposition parties have called for more clarity on the Government's decision to abandon plans to move the Rotunda hospital to west Dublin.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said she hopes that a planning application for significant improvements to the Rotunda can be made under new legislation on critical infrastructure.
She added it is policy to co-locate maternity hospitals with adult hospitals, which is one reason why a new national maternity hospital is being built on the site at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, to replace Holles Street hospital.
"Because Holles Street is just too far away in a patient safety event to get to (St) Vincent's.
"So that's the purpose of that policy, and that policy remains," she said.
She added that of all of the maternity hospitals, the Rotunda has "the least challenge" in this regard, because it is "so close" to the Mater Hospital (in Dublin).
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, she added that she has been "reflecting very considerably" in the last two weeks since the planning decision on the Rotunda.
"Put away the (planning) decision for a second, what's needed, patient safety."
The minister acknowledged that a bigger unit at the Rotunda is now being considered than the proposed one that was recently blocked by An Coimisiún Pleanála.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said that an enhanced sexual assault treatment unit will also be included in the revised planning application.
She said the Rotunda is a centre for care for women in the (Dublin) city centre, serving an "enormously important purpose," including its sexual assault treatment unit whose work is "extraordinary," and "exceptional".
"And I believe they need more space, and the Rotunda (hospital) agree.
"And I want to make sure that in part of this planning application that we are including an enhanced sexual assault treatment unit."
Ms Carroll MacNeill said she expects that a revised planning application can be put together "before the summer," which she said would coincide with the timing of the enactment of the Government's new critical infrastructure bill.
Rotunda hopeful of planning to expand on current site
Earlier, the Master of the Rotunda Hospital said he hopes the decision not to relocate it to west Dublin will enable the hospital to get planning permission to expand on its current site.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Master of the Rotunda Professor Sean Daly said it has always made sense for the Rotunda to have close clinical links with the nearby Mater hospital.
He said he was also conscious of the wishes of Bartholomew Mosse, who founded the hospital.
"His legacy was, or his wish, was, to look after the poor people of Dublin. And I do believe the Rotunda is an iconic institution in the heart of Dublin and it should stay [here]."
Last month, a decision to approve the proposed development of a new €100 million four-storey critical care wing at the Rotunda was overturned by An Coimisiún Pleanála.
The new wing would have provided 80 extra hospital bedrooms as well as a new theatre and connections to the existing entrance and main hospital buildings.
The plans also provided for the demolition of the existing Outpatients Department on the Rotunda's campus on the western side of Parnell Square.
The commission upheld two appeals against the council's ruling by the Dublin Civic Trust and an individual, while rejecting the recommendation of its own planning inspector to grant planning permission for the project.
Prof Daly said the hospital would work closely with its design team and submit a new planning permission.
"We are very conscious of the fact that conservation concerns were an issue during the last submission", he added.
Prof Daly said: "We will absolutely look at the mass of the building. You know, there was a lot of plant on the roof, and I think that was an issue, and it was certainly an issue when you viewed the building from the top of Parnell Square. We may be able to relocate plant to a different part of the building, if that's required."
However, he said, he did not want to submit a planning permission that would not fulfil the clinical requirement of the hospital.
"I really would not wish to submit a planning application for a building that doesn't fulfil our clinical requirements, and those are to ensure that we have 21st Century facilities to care for some of the most vulnerable women in the country."
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Sinn Féin's Spokesperson on Health David Cullinane has called for the spotlight to focus on investment and development of the Rotunda and accused the Minister of Health of putting to bed an issue that has been "an anchor around the neck of the Rotunda for far too long".
He said all the stakeholders now need to examine a new planning application and once that has been completed, there also has to be certainty around funding, timeframes and timescales, he added.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with David McCullagh, Mr Cullinane said the capital funding for the project is €100 million, adding, "my hope is that the funding will now come very quickly a fresh application is made. We can obviously see that a new application will have to take into account conservation issues."
He said he believed that heritage of the iconic hospital site, along with the built heritage of the general area, can be protected while still providing modern, fit for purpose, services.
He said no one in the Rotunda is opposed to protecting the integrity of the building.
