Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Connolly and her colleagues for bringing forward this motion, which we will support. I note the Deputy's track record on this because I know we have been raising similar issues for many years. I am disappointed the Minister left just before I began to speak. Perhaps he was afraid I was going to remind him of what he said in opposition regarding all these issues because it was quite comprehensive. If he was to implement in government what he called for while in opposition, it would be great.

I will cover three areas. The first concerns access to maternity services. In fairness, the contribution from Deputy Ó Laoghaire summarises what I have been saying here for months. I have told many stories of many friends who are being treated so badly because they cannot be with their partners. I have heard some really horrific stories. This issue needs to be dealt with once and for all.

The second issue relates to the national maternity strategy. This strategy is five years in and is going nowhere as regards scale. It is completely wrong. Mark Molloy resigned in June 2020 because it was going nowhere. Given the credibility of the other members, I would be surprised if they stay on board as well. In fact, I would not advise them to stay on board. It is not my business. This is going nowhere in scale. Obviously we need multiannual funding, which still has not happened. Regarding the issues outlined by HIQA, only Cork, Cavan, Drogheda and Wexford meet the requirements. The other 15 maternity units need significant upgrading and refurbishment. Local maternity services to me are in Limerick, where my children, my brother and I were born. Essentially, it has not changed. The structures are still the same. It is completely archaic and out of date. It is scandalous. The Government cannot even find enough money to push that forward. I will make a suggestion about that later on.

While I welcome some developments regarding the fertility hub in my local hospital in Nenagh, they are small by comparison to the overall scale of what is required. We must learn lessons relating to the scandalous situation that has affected so many women across the country. We made multiple promises that services to women would improve. I know because I have been fighting with regard to the CervicalCheck issue for years. Look what is happening with the tribunal. Look at what is happening with regard to gynaecological services where there are waiting lists of two years or more for some procedures and diagnostics relating to issues like endometriosis. That is just not good enough. That is reality. It is not good enough yet we make all these promises. Promises are a waste of time unless they are fulfilled.

Finally and most comprehensively, I want to deal with the ownership of the national maternity hospital. I have literally been dealing with this issue since 2017. This is the crux of the issue. The original decision regarding the national maternity hospital should not have been made. The officials who drove that decision have questions to answer. The Government that drove that decision has questions to answer. I believe we are now in a deadlocked situation. In the programme for Government, the Government said it would "Conclude the governance arrangements and commence the building of the new maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin." It did not say anything about ownership. Until the ownership structures are sorted out, we cannot proceed. I looked at what the Minister said. He was quite equivocal regarding where the ownership would go, which I welcome, and said he would not do anything until it is sorted. Frankly, he will not be doing anything unless he does something about the ownership model that was structured and put in place in 2017 and has been thundering along since then. It has to be dealt with. This nettle must be grasped. The model will not work unless this is done through compulsory purchase order or is gifted. It is as simple as that.

While we are wasting time on all of this, the national maternity strategy is not progressing. Could we, at least, deal with the Rotunda and Limerick hospitals by pushing them on while we are losing all this time on the national maternity hospital, of which I am a huge supporter? I am a huge supporter of the national maternity strategy. I am on record as saying it is one of the best healthcare strategies in Ireland that has ever been written. This must be dealt with. I believe the 2017 decision to give sole ownership of the site to the religious Sisters of Charity was wrong. I believe in co-location but it could not have been done this way. In May 2017, under pressure from myself and others, the Sisters of Charity said it would not be involved in the running of it but it needed to get divestment permission from the Holy See. It received permission but there were conditions under Canon Law 1293. The cat was then let out of the bag when the Catholic primate, Eamon Martin, said he would oppose certain actions in the hospital such as abortion. We then saw the 2017 annual report of St. Vincent's Hospital, which said it would be obliged to uphold the values and visions of Mother Aikenhead. That showed where this was going but we have had no movement of any substance since then.

We are at a point now where, as the previous Minister, Deputy Harris, said, there are three tests before this can be moved on: that the building would be completely in State ownership; that there would be no religious association in any way, shape or form in the articles of association of the company; and that the board would be fully orientated towards the State.

There was also a very clear point made, which is the sticking issue, that this Government or any future Government, would have to make a decision to proceed. It would not just be a Minister's decision; the Government would have to make the decision. We are now at the point where a Government needs to make a decision. It, however, is a kind of tipping away and hoping that it will be gifted. If that does not happen then it must be done by compulsory purchase order, CPO. While we are doing that we need to progress the national maternity strategy in relation to an overall strategy, and especially in relation to capital investment for the likes of the Rotunda and Limerick hospitals.

This hospital needs to be independent. We must get it right. We must guarantee State ownership. We must guarantee and ensure the legal arrangements around this with regard to the board of directors are proper. The new national maternity hospital cannot be a subsidiary as currently constructed under the St. Vincent's Holdings CLG. It needs to be owned by the State, it needs to have its own governance and budgetary independence, and it needs to be absolutely bereft of any religious interference whatsoever. We are at a critical point and the Government needs to move this one. It needs to make a decision and to stop pussyfooting around on the issue and it needs to be open and transparent on it.

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