Tenders were invited by the Health Service Executive (HSE) yesterday from developers willing to build another private hospital on a public hospital site.
The tender was invited for the construction of a new hospital on the grounds of Connolly Hospital at Blanchardstown in Dublin.
This brings to seven the number of public hospital sites for which the HSE has now sought tenders to build so-called "co-located" hospitals. It is at present evaluating tenders submitted for the construction of private hospitals on the sites of Waterford Regional Hospital, Sligo General Hospital, Limerick Regional Hospital, Cork University Hospital and St James's and Beaumont hospitals in Dublin.
The private co-located hospitals are being built as part of an initiative by the outgoing Government to free up 1,000 beds in public hospitals.
Meanwhile, both sides in the stalled hospital consultant contract negotiations told a health conference at Croke Park yesterday they believed - if talks reconvened - there was a reasonable prospect a deal could be hammered out between them.
Gerard Barry, chief executive of the HSE Employers' Agency, said: "The difficulty is finding that elusive formula that would let us all get back around the table again with our principles intact."
Donal Duffy, of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA), said there was a fair degree of common ground between the sides before the talks broke down.
The IHCA pulled out of the talks in April after the HSE pressed ahead with advertising 68 new consultant posts on contracts which had not been agreed.