‘NMH opponents will delay hospital by at least 10 years’
INFLUENTIAL Fianna Fail Minister Niall Collins has said opponents of the National Maternity Hospital are engaging in ‘a seismic act of irresponsibility’ and will delay the hospital by at least 10 years.
Commenting on plans by Sinn Fein to bring forward a Dail Private Members Motion on the Compulsory Purchase Order of the NMH site, Mr Collins said: ‘Politically motivated opposition from Sinn Fein and the Social Democrats will set back even beginning the new National Maternity Hospital by a decade.’
He also warned the cost would be ‘unquantifiable’.
‘Any attempt to impose a CPO on the current property runs the risk of being laughed out of court,” added Mr Collins. ‘CPOs apply if the seller is acting unreasonably. It would be hard to see how a 299-year lease at €10 a year meets that threshold.
Apart from anything else, he said: ‘There would also be real concerns over the implications for property rights.
‘If we turf one set of people out of a property because we don’t like the cut of their jib, what’s to stop us doing the same to more people or that we will have a different thinking group who may wish to row back the current rights of women as is now happening in America.’
He also challenged Sinn Fein to stand over the consequences of a CPO, noting: ‘If you take that route you’ll be another five years in court and then when you get there a judge is more than likely to ask: “Are you for real, why do you want a CPO, you don’t need one”.’
Speaking to the Mail, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: ‘The project is strongly supported by the midwives, nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals working in the National Maternity Hospital and St Vincent’s.
‘It’s also supported by clinicians around the country who know how urgent it is, and that the need for clinical independence at the new hospital has been secured.
‘In government, TDs and senators I’m speaking with are happy with the multiple layers of protections that have been put in place, not only to guarantee the independence of the new hospital, but to go much further than that and ensure the new hospital must provide all services.’
Senior HSE figures also warned: ‘if you go down the CPO route you enter a world of pain. It’s a mess. The only way that the current option causes trouble is if we decide to open a casino on the site.’
One minister noted, of the political landscape, that ‘opposition is slipping away’. ‘Even Sinn Fein, despite their posturing, are desperately looking for a fence to sit on. This is a spat that is running out of steam already.’
Mr Collins also said: ‘The NMH deal may not be perfect but what deal is in the real world. This is definitely a scenario where the perfect is the enemy of the good.
‘There are genuine concerns but a great deal of opposition to the NMH, especially from outside, is being driven by old wars that are long over.’
He added there are ‘no bishops in closets or nuns waiting to steal away the NMH’.
‘It is time for common sense and getting on with the job or history will judge us harshly.’
Fine Gael has also moved to distance themselves from claims they have been undermining Fianna Fail.
One minister noted of the decision to delay: ‘Whether it is deliberate or accidental it has been the cutest manoeuvre for some time’.
The cost would be unquantifiable