The Government needs to use a compulsory purchase order to acquire the land on which the new National Maternity Hospital will be built.
That's according to People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith, who says there's concern the hospital will come under the control of the Catholic Church.
The owners of the land, the Sisters of Charity, are set to lease it to the Government - they say they won't be involved in running the facility.
However, the Tánaiste's told the Dáil he believes there are "problems" with the governance of the hospital, given that the board will not be appointed by the Government.
Deputy Bríd Smith says the State needs to move forward with a CPO:
"All of these discussions and arrangements started to take place pre-repeal.
"Repeal changed everything and post-repeal, women in this country are worried that a brand-new National Maternity Hospital that was paid in full for by the State would not deliver the services for which we fought very hard and won.
"You could CPO and I think that is probably going to be the step that is going to have to be taken.
"It is just huge delay with long protracted negotiations where we end up with a very messy, very complicated situation yet again in terms of women’s health."
Main Image: Solidarity People Before Profit's Bríd Smith speaking at a march against any potential Fianna Fail/Fine Gael government, 07-03-2020. Image: Brian Lawless/PA Wire/PA Images
