LAST UPDATE | 9 May 2022

THE GOVERNMENT WILL press ahead with plans for the new National Maternity Hospital, with Taoiseach Micheal Martin insisting that fears surrounding its ownership structure have been “comprehensively addressed”.

The relocation to a site on the grounds of St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin has proved highly controversial as, until recently, the site was owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity.

The religious congregation has now transferred its ownership and if the relocation plan goes ahead the State would lease the land for 299 years.

Speaking on Morning Ireland, the Taoiseach noted that the need for a new maternity hospital has been lost in the debate around ownership. “In my view, the current hospital it’s not acceptable. It’s not fit for purpose for the women of Ireland today.

“The new hospital will be a very significant advance on the current hospital in terms of extra inpatient beds. [There will be] a fantastic new, world-class neonatal unit, with far more cots and individual rooms, which helps the outcomes of newborns, premature newborns from as early as 23 weeks,” he said.

When pressed on concerns surrounding the involvement of religious orders in the hospital, Martin said these had been “comprehensively addressed through the Constitution of the new hospital”.

“The directors of the hospital are obliged to carry out all legal services permissible within the State,” he said. “The new hospital will be more secular in governance than the existing hospital has been in its history.”

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said that if the Government were to start the process again, it could add another 10 to 15 years to the project.

Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One, Donnelly said that if a Compulsive Purchase Order (CPO) were to be pursued, there would be no guarantee that it would get through the courts.

“We would need to demonstrate to court that we needed to own the land and I would imagine if it ever got to court, St Vincent’s would say ‘but sure we’ve given them the land for 300 years,” said Donnelly, adding that legal advice he received said it would add years to the project.

“If we were to start again, there’d be no guarantee of co-location, which means less good specialist care for women.

“I think we could well be adding 10 to 15 years to the project and I simply do not believe that we should do that. We’ve been talking about this for long enough, we need to get this hospital built.”

Last week, St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG) completed the legal transfer of the Sisters of Charity’s shareholding in the group to a new company, St Vincent’s Holdings CLG, paving the way for the maternity hospital to be built on the St Vincent’s site.

But Cabinet has stalled the proposal to allow for documents about ownership and governance arrangements to be published, and to allow Minister Donnelly to appear before the Oireachtas Health Committee this week to address lingering concerns.

Campaigners and opposition political parties have raised a number of concerns about the proposed deal, including the possibility that certain medical procedures such as abortions could not be carried out at the hospital because they are not approved by the Catholic church.

The history of abuse scandals involving religious orders, particularly regarding institutions such as Magdalene Laundries and industrial schools, has led others to say that religious organisations should have no involvement in the provision of women’s healthcare.

The Department of Health has repeatedly stated that all procedures that are currently provided at the National Maternity Hospital under Irish law will be provided in the new NMH if it relocates to the Dublin 4 site.

This includes termination of pregnancy, provision of contraception services including tubal ligation, fertility services and gender reassignment procedures.