Dáil debates

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

Maternity Services: Motion [Private Members]

 

8:05 pm

Photo of Denise MitchellDenise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like many other Deputies in this Chamber, I have been contacted by members of the public who are deeply angry and upset at the mess surrounding the new national maternity hospital. Let us be very clear - it is the job of the State to provide health care to all its citizens based on need. There should be no non-medical interference in that process. Treatment should be based on the needs of the patients within the laws of the land. End of story. How can the Government justify spending €300 million of taxpayers' money on a maternity hospital and then simply hand it over to a religious organisation? The claim by some that the Sisters of Charity must own the hospital because it is built on their land is pure and utter rubbish. There are many options open to the Government if only it would show a bit of back bone. The Department of Health seems to be all over the shop on precisely what treatments would and would not be available. For example, most people find it absolutely outrageous that the availability of a standard procedure such as IVF is being brought into this debate. The view of Sinn Féin is that this hospital is desperately needed. Our maternity services are overcrowded and understaffed while our facilities are crumbling. The new national maternity hospital should be built as soon as possible. Having said that, the Government must ensure the new national maternity hospital remains entirely within public ownership and that the Sisters of Charity have no part in the running of this facility. The concerns of the citizens around the governance of the hospital have to be fully addressed because the women of Ireland will accept nothing less.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.