Simon Harris said the practice is not something the Government or HSE would condone.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said maternity care should be safe for everyone who needs it, not just those who can afford it.

The move came amid a dispute with the Government over the arrangements.

Prof Daly said that the 2015 plan to co-locate the Rotunda and Connolly hospitals had been “a huge issue”.

Last week, the An Coimisiún Pleanála overturned planning permission granted by Dublin City Council in July last year to the hospital site on Parnell Square.

Opposition party leaders pushed the Taoiseach over whether or not a 2016 plan to relocate the hospital will go ahead.

Professor Sean Daly said the decision was ‘incredibly disappointing’.