Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, expects to come back to the Government in the next three to four weeks, with the issue of the national maternity hospital being the central focus. I want Deputy Louise O'Reilly to understand everybody here supports the women of Ireland, including expectant mothers and their babies, in having proper facilities. That is why we are proposing to build a new hospital. As planning permission has not yet been applied for, there is no question of contracts being signed. The key is having utter clinical independence from religious influence, of which I have already given confirmation. We are now concerned with how we arrive at that situation and deal with the ownership issue which we want to demonstrate beyond yea or nay in order that everybody will be quite clear that the hospital will operate in the interests of mothers and their babies.

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