The decision on where the State's new national children's hospital will be located will not be made for several more weeks.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) said yesterday that the taskforce set up to choose a hospital site had extended its work deadline, and was not now expected to make a decision for another six weeks.
The decision had been expected before Easter.
The HSE also said John O'Brien, chairman of the taskforce which has spent the last two months looking at sites for the hospital, was stepping down.
"This situation is due to the continued candidacy of St James's Hospital as a potential site for the children's hospital and Mr O'Brien's former association with St James's as CEO," it said.
The HSE has appointed Laverne McGuinness, its national director of shared services, as the new chairwoman of the taskforce, which is representative of the HSE, the Department of Health and the OPW. It is due to "complete its work over the next month and a half".
The deadline for the group's work has been extended to give it time to look at the idea of locating a maternity hospital on the same site as the new children's hospital, which is to replace the three existing children's hospitals in Dublin.
It also wants more time to consider private-sector proposals for the development of the new hospital, including an offer by property developer and solicitor Noel Smyth to build the hospital at cost price on any site chosen by the HSE.
The HSE, in a statement, said that, as a result of the taskforce's deliberations, important issues had arisen which were not included in the group's original terms of reference.
"The importance for co-location or a relationship between the children's hospital and a maternity unit which would focus on high-risk deliveries has been pointed out to be a very significant issue.
"At this point it is planned to extend the working time for the committee in order to allow input from the three maternity hospitals in Dublin in relation to their views on their willingness to co-locate with the children's hospital.
"There have also been a number of proposals from the private sector in relation to building a new children's hospital. Discussion with these groups also requires additional time."
The Irish Times reported last week that the taskforce had written in recent days to those bidding to provide the new hospital seeking information as to whether their sites had the capacity to accommodate a new maternity centre in addition to the paediatric facility.
Six public hospitals in Dublin and two private-sector groups have expressed an interest in developing the new hospital.
The plan to build the new national children's hospital was announced by the HSE at the beginning of February following the publication of a consultants' report on paediatric services.
That report said there should be one major children's hospital in the State, it should be in Dublin, and it should be adjacent to an adult hospital.
It said that the site chosen should also have space for future expansion and be easily accessible by public transport.
When Mr Smyth submitted his plans to build the new children's hospital on a site close to the M50, he indicated the Coombe women's hospital could also be relocated to the site.
