Minister for Health Mary Harney has insisted she is "standing firm" on the location of the proposed national children's hospital on the Mater hospital site in Dublin.
Both Our Lady's Children's Hospital and Tallaght hospital have stated they will not co-operate with the plan.
Minister for Health Mary Harney
The Government-backed plan envisages the three existing children's hospitals in Dublin - Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Temple Street Children's Hospital and the National Children's Hospital in Tallaght - merged on the Mater campus to form the new children's hospital.
Ms Harney was speaking at a press conference to announce a Commission on Patient Safety and Quality Assurance this morning.
"I passionately believe we need a single tertiary facility for very ill children. The McKinsey report recommended that facility be co-located with an adult teaching hospital. I hope Crumlin will reflect on its decision to withdraw from the process," she said.
"In their submission to the task force which I read yesterday, Crumlin said issues around the site should not take away from the care model. I agree with that. Crumlin accept that the site at the Mater is big enough. It is the issue of access that they have a problem with.
"The new hospital will go ahead at the Mater. We will implement the decision that has been made. I am standing firm by that decision. I hope Crumlin reflect and engage in the development. I don't agree with having two sites. It is not satisfactory for expertise to be spread across two sites when dealing with sick children."
Responding to a call from Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny for an independent review of the decision to locate the hospital at the Mater, Ms Harney said: "The people that advised on the location of the hospital were architects, engineers, the OPW and experts from Trinity College. They recommended the site. I didn't, the HSE didn't.
"I want to get away from reviews. I do not believe it is in anyone's interest to delay and have more reviews. This hospital was never going to be located on a greenfield site. It needed to be co-located with an adult teaching hospital.
Ms Harney urged the Crumlin hospital board to take the advice of its chairman, Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, to enter into dialogue with her.
"I don't change my mind without a very good reason to do so. I'm standing firm by this decision. Everyone wasn't going to be happy with this site, but I believe its time to get on with the facility."
Chairman of Tallaght hospital board Alan Gillis said yesterday the hospital would not co-operate with the plan unless it was altered.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern admitted yesterday he had had certain misgivings about the siting of the hospital on the Mater site. Speaking during a visit to Riyadh, he said: "I would hope that this could be resolved."
Mr Ahern rejected suggestions of political interference in the decision that led to the new hospital being planned for a site in his own constituency.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny today called on the Government to begin an immediate review of the selection process for the site of the new hospital.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny
"I am seriously concerned that two hospitals, Tallaght and Crumlin, have both withdrawn from this process. The fact that those decisions were taken, and given the credibility of the personnel involved, has led me to having a deep suspicion that something is amiss with the process as conducted," Mr Kenny said in a statement.
Mr Kenny said an independent review should be done by a panel of Irish and international experts. "This review should be completed inside two months. This two-month review period would allow for full accountability and transparency to be provided."
Meanwhile, his party colleague Senator Brian Hayes claims a letter written by Mr Ahern to the then minister for health Micheál Martin in 2002, proves the move was decided almost five years ago.
Green Party health spokesman John Gormley said the Taoiseach's remarks in Riyadh yesterday had left Ms Harney in a difficult position, and he called on the Government to "go back to the drawing board" on the issue.
"This was the usual carefully crafted obfuscation by the Taoiseach, which has left Mary Harney in the lurch. She has constantly defended the HSE decision to locate the new hospital in the Taoiseach's constituency and now finds that Bertie Ahern is trying to back-track for political reasons," Mr Gormley said.