Taoiseach Micheál Martin had urged the St Vincent's Healthcare Group to "take note of the consensus in the Oireachtas" in relation to the new national maternity hospital, and to "respond appropriately."
Numerous deputies have today repeated their calls on the Government to secure ownership of the hospital site, something the St Vincent's Healthcare Group has refused to facilitate.
Micheál Martin said the outcome of negotiations so far do not go far enough in terms of governance and ownership.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin says the first objective of Government is to make sure they can build a first-class maternity facility that serves the women and children of the nation. | Read more #politics: https://t.co/wIfDwJczri pic.twitter.com/RfaeNEd7Gz
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 23, 2021
Labour Party leader Alan Kelly urged the use of a Compulsory Purchase Order, and told the Taoiseach that yesterday's response from the St Vincent's Healthcare Group was "two fingers to you, your ministers, to me, to everyone this chamber, and the Irish people".
Earlier, the Social Democrats warned that the hospital exists in a corporate structure which is "designed to facilitate" the continued influence of Catholic values and "the ethical code of the Sisters of Charity."
"The deal is fundamentally, potentially fatally, flawed," Róisín Shortall, spokesperson on health, said during her Private Members Motion calling for full State ownership of the hospital and its site.
She said the Sisters of Charity had managed what was "essentially a take-over" in a "David and Goliath situation."
"It is not the first time they have run rings around the Irish government," Ms Shortall added.
The deal "flies in the face of reason and rationality" and "is manifestly bad for the public," she said, noting that the taxpayer will pay most of the costs, but not get full ownership of the facility.
"Having said they would gift the site to the Irish people, [the Sisters of Charity] gifted it to their own holding company," Ms Shortall said.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the Government would not oppose the Social Democrats motion.
The new national maternity hospital "must have clinical and operational independence, and provide the full range of healthcare services to women," he told the Dáil.
Minister Donnelly insisted that he will seek a "clear confirmation, unambiguous, absolutely water-tight confirmation" on the hospital's independence of governance.
"It is my strong preference that the hospital be built on land owned by the State," he added.
Earlier, he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that he will meet privately with all the stakeholders over the coming days.
He refused to say whether the Government would use a compulsory purchase order to secure ownership of the land, adding that he thinks it is not helpful to "put down red lines" through the media.
"You absolutely have to enter these negotiations with a red line in mind," Jennifer Whitmore, Social Democrats TD, urged the minister in the Dáil. "And that red line is our healthcare."
Reacting to the interview, she said that "women do not want tea and sympathy... we want action".
"This is about power and ethos - and not about healthcare," she said.
Meanwhile, the former master of the National Maternity Hospital has said he believes the Government could be "considering a Plan B" for the location for the new National Maternity Hospital.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, Dr Peter Boylan recounted a chance meeting with the former Minister for Health, now Minister for Higher Education, Simon Harris, in recent days, in which he claimed Minister Harris suggested the hospital could be built somewhere else.
"I was coming home from the shops and I bumped into Simon Harris, and we discussed the issue of the hospital," Dr Boylan said. "And he suggested that possibly Tallaght Hospital might be an option.
"So that makes me think that possibly the government are considering a Plan B here."
Dr Boylan said a "crucial" issue to the building of the hospital on the St Vincent's site is that the Sisters of Charity will have to gain permission from the Vatican to hand over ownership of the land.
"The Taoiseach and Tánaiste said that abortions and IVF etc need to be done in that hospital", he said. "Rome cannot possibly agree to that."
This evening, a spokesperson for Minister Harris said that he had met Dr Boylan while canvassing in Dublin Bay South on Saturday.
"They had a private discussion and the development of the National Maternity Hospital was discussed. Minister Harris reiterated his view and the Government's view that the State should own the land and discussed other land the State owned in the city," the spokesperson said.
"As it was a private conversation, Minister Harris has no further comment to make."
Additional reporting Micheál Lehane
