Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street has declared that next year it will put a monthly limit on the number of births allowed to take place in the hospital. Today's edition of The Irish Times refers to a comment by Dr. Peter Boylan, a consultant obstetrician in the hospital, speaking on the "Morning Ireland" programme, that the Department of Health and Children has been aware of the pressure on the hospital for at least ten years. He also stated: "The persistent answer we get is you're fine, you don't need more people, you don't need more nurses, you don't need more doctors, the hospital is fine, go away and stop annoying us." The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform told the House last spring that the maternity hospitals were bursting at the seams with alleged baby tourism. He constructed a referendum he said would resolve the problem, held it and had it passed. Then we hear the comments I cited from a consultant in the premier maternity hospital. If the Minister was correct, what has happened? Was the whole episode a propaganda hoax by the Minister and the Government? Will the Taoiseach explain the matter?

Dr. Boylan also recommended that expectant mothers showing up at Holles Street Hospital and unable to receive care should visit their local Deputy.

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