Ms Alice Murphy:

There are two legal questions there and I would be very happy to take them. I will pass to Professor Higgins on the medical question.

The Deputy raised a point about the protection against merger. I think the Deputy said that St. Vincent’s could merge with another healthcare organisation. This raises a point which bears repeating, even though we have all discussed it. There is a conflation here of ownership and control. I believe that the Deputy’s question derives from the fact that St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group is the owner. However, St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group is not in control of the new national maternity hospital company. It cannot therefore direct a merger. There is no mechanism for it to do that. We have all talked about the other hospitals in the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group, of which there are three. They are all housed in one company. The national maternity hospital in the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group is housed in a separate company, which is specifically designed to ensure that there is no outside interference, whether this is by way of merger with another hospital or by way of religious interference. There is no mechanism in the document or rulebook, which is the constitution of the new national maternity hospital. This new national maternity hospital company is a registered charity. It is bound by its own principal object, or the reason it exists, which is for the promotion of health and, in particular, for the provision of maternity and associated services.