Cabinet holds first meeting, discusses government plan

The Programme for Partnership is to be published on Wednesday after being cleared by the Cabinet.

The new Cabinet met on Wednesday morning with a brief agenda as ministers are still settling into their new positions.

The programme agreed with the Independent TDs and the Fine Gael party will be published after the meeting it is understood.

The 160-page document makes a series of policy commitments in the area of health, housing, education, political reform and justice.

This is the third and final draft of the Programme which was changed a number of times after requests from the Independent Alliance and others.

Minister of Health Simon Harris updated his colleagues on a row over the planned new National Maternity Hospital.

Mr Harris visited Holles Street on Tuesday night and will inform his Cabinet colleagues of the need for a new hospital to be built as soon as possible.

The National Maternity Hospital is currently struggling to maintain a service in Holles Street - while St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin 4 is seeing an increase in waiting lists and dangerous levels of emergency overcrowding.

It is proposed a new facility be built at St Vincent’s. However St Vincent’s is adamant that it must take over the governance of the facility, which has been rejected by the board of the National Maternity Hospital.