The deal to move Holles Street Hospital to St Vincent's in Dublin has been published.
The Health Minister Simon Harris says the deal can be seen on the Website of the new national maternity hospital, after calls for transparency.
Mr Harris has also welcomed a claim by the St Vincent's Healthcare Group that the new facility will carry out all legal medical procedures.
This comes after concerns were expressed about the ownership of the site by the Sisters of Charity.
The Boards of both hospitals are meeting this week and will no doubt review progress to date. The Minister and his officials will arrange meetings with the two hospitals shortly. The Minister repeated his request that some time be allowed for the detailed work that is necessary.
The Department of Health issued a statement on behalf of the Minister saying: "The project is at the very early stages with a planning decision on the hospital not expected until the Autumn. The Minister intends to report to Government on this project at the end of May. At that stage he expects to have further details on the legal and other arrangements envisaged and to make this information available publicly. This will allow for the necessary clarity to be publicly available well in advance of contractual or other commitments being entered into in respect of this project.
"The location of all maternity hospitals on the sites of adult teaching hospitals is a key objective of the National Maternity Strategy, in order to deliver the best outcomes for women and children. The relocation of the National Maternity Hospital to the St Vincent’s campus, Elm Park has been the subject of three separate mediation processes since 2015. This culminated in the agreement between the National Maternity Hospital and St Vincent’s which was successfully concluded last November under the mediation of Mr Kieran Mulvey. This agreement provides for the creation of a new company which would have 'clinical and operational independence in the provision of maternity, gynaecology, obstetrics and neonatal services (without religious, ethnic or other distinction)'.
"A legal process is necessary to establish this company and provide for the structure, objectives, role and powers. Separate to this process is the development of legal arrangements regarding the terms upon which public funds will be made available to support the construction of the hospital. Further work will now take place over the coming weeks to bring added clarity to these matters."
The Board of St Vincent's Hospital, where the new national maternity hospital will be sited, has said that "any medical procedure which is in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Ireland will be carried out at the new hospital".
That is despite fears its owners The Sisters of Charity could prevent treatments that are contrary to their Catholic beliefs.
It also claims that the Sisters do not owe any money to the compensation scheme for abuse victims.
The board hit out at "misinformation and untruthful allegations" in response to former master of the National Maternity Hospital Dr Peter Boylan over his opposition to nuns having ultimate ownership of the new hospital.
Four out of the nine board members of the new maternity hospital will come from the St Vincent’s board.
Dr Boylan was asked to step down from his role on the board of the current National Maternity Hospital by deputy chairman Nicholas Kearns via text message on Sunday.
He last week questioned whether clinical care, including abortions or IVF treatment, would be influenced by the nuns' religious beliefs and said it is inappropriate for a hospital to have a strong religious influence, particularly from the Catholic Church.
He said his fears were well founded after Bishop Kevin Doran said that the Sisters would have to obey church law as owners, regardless of how the facility is funded, and that governance rests with the Pope.
Dr Boylan was asked to resign over his intervention by the deputy chair of National Maternity Hospital Judge Nicholas Kearns.
Dr Peter Boylan says he will not resign and says he feels a loyalty to the women of Ireland. pic.twitter.com/ylcRevFhad
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 25, 2017
"I don't feel I should resign," the consultant said.
"There's been questions about loyalty to the board - I feel a loyalty to the women of Ireland."
The Board of St Vincent's said that the clinical independence of the hospital "will be enshrined in the Memorandum and Articles of the new hospital".
They said: "Continuing to suggest that procedures currently undertaken at NMH will not be available in the new maternity hospital is entirely false and without foundation. In line with current policy and procedures at SVHG, any medical procedure which is in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Ireland will be carried out at the new hospital.
"In conclusion the Board of SVHG noted recent media reports in which the Department of Education confirmed that their shareholders, the Religious Sisters of Charity, do not have any outstanding liabilities to the taxpayer relating to the Redress Scheme."
The terms of the deal on the new National Maternity Hospital, which was brokered with the Sisters of Charity last November, were supposed to be confidential.
The nuns own the land that it is being built on and it is understood they were not asked to sell the site to the State.