The Health Minister says the decision to delay sign-off on the new National Maternity Hospital is to address people's "very genuine concerns" about the project.
The relocation from Holles Street in the city centre to the St Vincent's campus in Dublin 4 has been the subject of controversy due to suggestions of possible religious interference in the delivery of services.
The new facility will be built on land leased from a charitable company that was originally given the property by the Religious Sisters of Charity.
Cabinet will review the decision again in two weeks, and Stephen Donnelly has offered to answer questions about the move before the Oireachtas Health Committee.
He says there will be "multiple layers of protection" in place to ensure clinical and operational independence. Minister Donnelly says the delay is necessary because of the "genuine concerns" people have about religious interference in the project:
"They want reassurance, they want absolute reassurance that the new hospital will be fully independent, that it will be clinically independent, that it will be operationally independent and that it will offer all services. That is absolutely the case."
