Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I wish to follow up on Deputy Howlin's point regarding the ownership and management ethos of the national maternity hospital. The Religious Sisters of Charity own the land on which the new facility is being built and the Government is negotiating with the order through its company, St. Vincent's Healthcare Group. That group will have a majority on the hospital's board of management and will chair it. If things do not change, the reality is that women's healthcare will be at risk, as well as the State's finances. Ethos will follow ownership. It is unrealistic to expect a Catholic maternity hospital owned by the nuns' company to provide a full range of services, including contraception, sterilisation, abortion, IVF, etc., because those services contravene the Catholic code. There must be a review of the contract agreed between the Minister for Health and the Religious Sisters of Charity and measures proposed to bring the hospital into public ownership with a secular ethos and a secular board of management.

I have a question regarding the carbon emissions specifications to which the national maternity hospital and the national children's hospital are being built. When I asked about this in a parliamentary question to the Minister for Health, I received an answer from the HSE stating that the maternity hospital is being built to A3 standard. The expert advice I have received on the matter makes clear that this is nowhere near the near-zero energy building standards required for all new public buildings from 1 January 2020. In fact, the building is being designed to 2008 building regulations rather than the 2019 regulations. If it continues to be built in the current way, the hospital will need to be retrofitted at up to ten times the cost of building it to near-zero standards from the outset, if a deep retrofit is even possible. That change must happen urgently while the building is ongoing.

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