James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This amendment aims to remove from the definition of appropriate institution those hospitals that are not owned by the HSE. The problem is that if we remove this wording it would exclude the three maternity hospitals in Dublin and the large public multidisciplinary hospitals in Dublin, which are not owned by the HSE, from the ambit of the operation of the Bill. This amendment would have grave consequences for the safety of women in the Dublin region and beyond and therefore I cannot support it.

In addition, the Deputy may wish to note that, as currently drafted, the names of all institutions which will be permitted to carry out the medical procedure referred to in this legislation lawfully have been listed in a Schedule to the Bill and any changes to these provisions will require approval of the Houses of the Oireachtas which should give him considerable comfort.

I take this opportunity to say that there will be a need for some technical amendments to that list on Report Stage because, believe it or not, the names of some of these hospitals are quite complex when one goes back to their original legal standing and charters, etc., and it is not as simple as it appears, even though it seems ludicrous that it is not so. For clarity, there are several women - there have been five already this year of whom I know and possibly more since I last checked - whose children had to be delivered in a model 4 hospital, such as St. James's or Beaumont because of serious co-morbidity around their cardiac status or indeed some young women with cystic fibrosis. They need to be transferred immediately to intensive care following the delivery so it is important that those institutions are covered. I hope that the Deputy will accept that it would be better to withdraw this amendment.