Buying hospital land would delay project

The Health Minister claims the development of the new National Maternity Hospital could be delayed by 10 to 15 years if the land was bought by Compulsory Purchase Order.

Stephen Donnelly insists who owns the land is not relevant to what takes place inside the new facility. The Minister will address the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party tomorrow in a bid to assuage the concerns of government TDs. Minister Donnelly says he examined the possibility of using a CPO to buy the land on St Vincent's , but there was no guarantee it would succeed