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

The question the Minister asked, namely, how we had arrived at this point, is poignant. We arrived in the middle of the discussion with most of the country up in arms. Within five days 100,000 people had signed an online petition calling on the Minister not to do this. Why did they do it? I have a letter, a copy of which I understand the Minister has received. It gives a very compelling example of why we have to ensure the Sisters of Charity will have nothing whatsoever to do with the running of the new National Maternity Hospital. It points out that only last month St. Vincent's University Hospital told a woman to contact the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street because it would not provide the procedure of tubal ligation. For those who do not know, tubal ligation is a surgical procedure of sterilisation in which a woman's fallopian tubes are clamped to stop her becoming pregnant.

This very basic, longstanding service is denied to women by the board of St. Vincent's Hospital. How, in the name of God, is it going to deal with issues like IVF and termination of pregnancy in whatever circumstances as well as the question of sexual reassignment, which is one to which the Minister's Department is committed?

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