THE MASTER OF the National Maternity Hospital Dr Rhona Mahony has said that abortion services wouldn’t be fully ready by 1 January and that staff are “fearful” of rolling out a new service in such a “charged” political environment.

Speaking to the Marian Finucane Show this morning ahead of the end of her seven-year tenure as Master, she said that abortion services won’t be fully rolled out by 1 January, as promised by Health Minister Simon Harris.

She said even finding the space to conduct the provision of pregnancy terminations was “challenging” and was the main concern. 

The Houses of the Oireachtas – the Dáil and the Seanad – have been in the process of debating the legislation which will allow for the provision of abortion services in Ireland.

The legislation was passed by the Dáil last week, and the Seanad is due to debate the legislation on Monday, a day on which the Seanad doesn’t usually sit, in an effort to get the legislation approved in time for the rollout of abortion services in the New Year.

Mahony said that there are provisions in the legislation that affect operations at the hospital – like one doctor certifying that the abortion can take place, and then that same doctor would carry out the termination, a detail which is still being finalised.

The recruitment and the training of staff is the next phase after the legislation is passed, she said.

I understand that the Minister is really keen to roll out this service and that’s because he wants to help women, it’s out of goodness.

But at the end of the day it’s very unusual that legislation would be finalised and within days an entire service would be rolled out. 

“That is actually quite a big ask and quite a big challenge.”

She said that they were still aiming to have the service by 1 January, but said they would “struggle to provide the service we would like to provide” by then.

It’s not that it won’t be available, but I don’t think the entire service  will be the way we would like it to be by the 1st January.

I’m sure there will be terminations [starting then], absolutely, but I still think the service that we would like to see rolled out will not be ready in its entirety by 1st January.

She said that the Maternity Hospital already has training and equipment on some aspects that will be needed to carry out abortions, but that they would “struggle” with the provision of abortion to women who are 9 to 12 weeks pregnant, where a minor procedure could be necessary.

“[We don't know] how many women will come forward.”

When asked whether women requesting abortion services would enter the hospital through a different door than other women, Mahony said:

“We’ll be doing our best… but it’s going to be really challenging to try and find separation because already women who have a miscarriage unfortunately are walking through a hospital with pregnant women.”

When asked whether women would use the same door as women who are pregnant, Mahony said “there’s not much choice at Holles Street.

We’ve got a side door, we’ve got a back door… we could develop a back door but would people feel more estranged if they had to come in a back door? It’s a difficult question, and I don’t like the idea that women would have to be separated.

She said it was also important to support staff who would be fearful of rolling out the new service in a “charged” environment: “We need to be really careful to mind staff and make sure they’re safe.”

Mahony stressed that the ownership of the National Maternity Hospital that the Sisters of Charity wouldn’t own the hospital in land or any other entity. 

“What’s happening at the moment in relation to this hospital is actually church-state separation,” she said. She said the HSE would own the hospital building once it is built.

People can’t allow fear to interfere with the facts or allow fear to interfere with the building of a really important hospital.