The board of the National Maternity Hospital is due to meet this evening, amid ongoing controversy about the facility's future.

Board member Dr Peter Boylan is refusing to step down after he spoke out about concerns about the project's new location and ownership.

The St. Vincent's Healthcare Group last night issued a statement confirming there will be full clinical independence at the facility.

The deal in place between Holles Street and St Vincents Healthcare Group was also published - and the Health Minister says he'll reveal more before contracts are signed.

In the statement, the group accused Dr Boylan of “continued misinformation and untruthful allegations” – in light of his warnings that allowing ownership of the hospital to pass to religious group, the Sisters of Charity could compromise its clinical independence.

Yesterday, Dublin’s Lord Mayor Brendan Carr – who sits on the maternity hospital board – said he will be doing everything he can to see if the ownership can be changed.

He told Newstalk Drive that it doesn't make sense for the state to spend 300 million euro building the facility just to give it away:

“I don’t believe it is right for the state, I don’t believe it is right for the taxpayer but more importantly, I don’t think it is right for the maternity hospital and that is really a core of this,” he said.

“We need to have a decent hospital; we need to have a hospital which is going to give proper services to both the women and the children who will be using the hospital.

“The state should have full control and full say into how that is going to happen and they should own it.”

Dr Boylan has also claimed he was asked to step down by the hospital’s deputy chairman Nicholas Kearns and current master Dr Rhona Mahoney after raising his concerns.

Dr Mahoney will be discussing the controversy on Newstalk Breakfast this morning.