The Tánaiste has told the Dáil that he is "not aware of any plans to look at alternative sites for the National Maternity Hospital."
Leo Varadkar said the Government had decided on co-location of hospitals and said the "obvious fit and best fit for Holles Street was St Vincent's."
He said that in 2017 and 2018, "two memos were brought" to government on the National Maternity Hospital, but no memo for a decision on governance has yet been brought.
Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall said Mr Varadkar's concerns about the NMH, which he expressed last week in the House, were "surprising", because, she said, she has been raising those issues for years.
She said she has been repeatedly saying that the deal is "manifestly bad for the public", but had been "fobbed off with assurances".
"We haven't given examination to alternative sites"
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 24, 2021
Responding to @RoisinShortall, Tánaiste @LeoVaradkar says the Government is committed to the development of the National Maternity Hospital at the site at St Vincent’s | More: https://t.co/5lq3JQCu9m pic.twitter.com/IPY8euSczh
In recent days, the Government has said it will again engage with the group to buy the land for the new hospital.
The facility is set to be built on land which will be owned by an independent charity, St Vincent's Holdings, and rented to the State as part of a 99-year lease.
The Religious Sisters of Charity order owns the land and has said it is gifting it to the Irish people.
Yesterday, the St Vincent's Healthcare Group (SVHG) rejected calls to sell the site and said that for the delivery of integrated patient care on the Elm Park Campus, it must retain ownership of the site.
It said the views of the hospital on this matter were understood and accepted by the Department of Health in 2017 and a lease option on the land accepted.
Labour leader Alan Kelly said there are "no good solutions" to the issue of ownership of the Elm Park site.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he said he was "very taken" by the statement issued by SVHG, saying he thought it was a "bully boy tactic" in the way it was addressed and the timing of it.
Me Kelly said "we as a state can't be bullied", but that unless the site is gifted to the State, any other options will lead to a considerable delay, including a compulsory purchase order.
He said that given it is the unanimous view of the Dáil that ownership be placed into public hands, the site must be "either gifted to the State or acquired in some way".
Earlier, Green Party TD Nessa Hourican said healthcare in Ireland, "particularly maternity services" should be "fully State owned and fully secular".
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Ms Hourican said: "There are a myriad of ways you can impact what a hospital provides without bringing a religious ethos into this. You might never have to refuse to actually treat someone, but you can impact those decisions, because you get the choice about what services you fund."
She said if the governance structure goes ahead as planned, "it will be possible to exert a religious influence without there ever being an interaction on services or care with a medical professional."
