The Health Service Executive's plan to have legally binding agreements with developers for the construction of private hospitals on the grounds of eight public hospital sites signed by this day week will not now be realised.
This is because the process by which developers are selected to build the new hospitals and sign the agreements is a new one and it has encountered some delays, the HSE has said.
But while the contracts for the construction of the hospitals will not now be signed by the original deadline of April 16th, the HSE insisted yesterday that the plan was not in trouble.
"The timeframe originally specified was only indicative," a spokeswoman for the HSE said.
Developers are expected to receive their final invitations to tender to build on specific hospital sites this week, which is later than originally planned.
The HSE spokeswoman could not say exactly when the contracts are now expected to be signed.
Last month the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, maintained the contracts for the construction of the private hospitals would be signed within a "couple of weeks".
The hospitals are being built on foot of a Government plan to free up 1,000 beds in public hospitals for public patients by having the private patients normally accommodated in them moved to the adjacent private facilities when they are built.
The new facilities are due to be built on the sites of the Mid-Western Hospital in Limerick, Waterford Regional Hospital, Cork University Hospital, Sligo General Hospital, St James's Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, Connolly Hospital and Tallaght Hospital in Dublin.
Five companies - Beacon Medical Group, Bon Secours Group, Capio, Mater Private and Mount Carmel (formerly Harlequin) - have all put in bids for at least two sites, while Beacon is bidding for six.
The plan to build the private hospitals on the grounds of public hospitals has been strongly resisted by the main Opposition parties who say they would scrap it if in power after the next election.