Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is, however, a more serious question on which I need clarification. Mr. Stephen Dodd SC provided a briefing for Uplift. Dr. Boylan has probably seen it. In part of it, Mr. Dodd SC talks about what I am getting at here. The religious history, the mistrust and all of that that we have all spoken about is a big part of it but I am beginning to think that this is more about mammon than it is about God, that it is about money and it is about corporate interests. When Mr. Dodd SC states in his briefing to us that there is a clause in the lease, clause 7, that allows for the permitted use, he states the definition of "permitted use" is crucial. Clause 1 defines permitted use as "the National Maternity Hospital Area [being used as] a public hospital primarily for the provision of all clinically appropriate and legally permissible healthcare services"; it is there again in the title of it. It goes further on to say that part of the clause in the lease is "provided always that the Permitted Use does not preclude the provision of any private healthcare services relating to the above uses which are permitted or envisaged". Is this a clause that doubles down on the State leasing the land on the question of private care in that hospital, even though it is built with public money? Does Dr. Boylan follows, or am I being too convoluted?