The invitations to tender were sent out to bidders for six of the eight hospitals late on Thursday of last week with submissions from them due back on 17 May.

Project director, Tom Finn, assistant general secretary of the National Hospital Organisation says that once the submissions are received it "would take a couple of weeks", before anything firm is in place.

By that stage it is highly likely the election would be over.

"That's how long these things generally take. Our timetable has nothing to do with the election, " he told the Sunday Tribune. The rival developers for the hospitals were anxious to avoid a potential change of government who could delay or stop the project, with the two main opposition parties unsupportive of the co-location project. Despite being legally entitled to 28 days to make a submission once they have been invited to tender, the bidders were seeking to have it done by the end of April.

"We've invested too much time, effort, money and energy into this, to see it pulled out from under our feet. We're willing to pull out all the stops, " said one bidder speaking privately.

"The election is coming at the absolute worst time for us, it's in our interests to work quickly, " said another. However Finn is insistent that a change of government could not derail the project at this stage.

"It's full steam ahead as far as we are concerned. The HSE board and the department have all signed off on this project. The only thing we haven't had is a papal blessing, " he said.

However he did admit that the bidders may not be satisfied with the conditions to the invitations to tender.

"That's in the nature of these things but there has been constant dialogue all the time.

We've had over 150 face-to-face meetings.

Not everybody will be 100% happy, " said Finn. When asked if it was unfortunate that the important stage of the project was clashing with the election he replied that, "If you were a cynic, you could take that view."

"In election year you get a lot of rhetoric.

This is only a land lease agreement. It's apolitical. We thought when we first started it would take a year and it's now 13 months later. It's the HSE's responsibility now and not the governments, " he said.

However, one leading health consultant says that huge uncertainties remain about the project and sees developers going out on their own should the project not go ahead.

"There isn't that much support for the project across the board, " says Noel Daly, managing director of the Irish Health Partnership.

"It's going to be next to impossible to get something over the line before the election, but whoever is in charge afterwards will still have to cope with the same problems regarding hospital beds, " he said.

"Almost every western government is going to the private sector to supply healthcare because it is the quickest way to meet demand. The only option an alternative government would have is to embark on huge public sector building, which takes lots of time and is expensive. Developers would probably build independently of the government in that scenario, " he said.