Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

After everything that women, past and present, have gone through in this country to defend the right to healthcare, it is an absolute fallacy to believe that it is possible for a privately-controlled hospital, built on Catholic lands and founded under a Catholic ethos, to provide healthcare that is based solely on medical science and that religious ethos will not influence it in any shape or form. The vote to repeal the eighth amendment could not have been clearer. Women and men in Ireland will not allow for their health and that of their loved ones to be dictated by any organisation that places ethos above science. For women in my constituency of Wicklow, the new national maternity hospital will be the hospital they will go to for maternity services. I get many emails, as I am sure the Minister does, on this issue. People are very concerned that the Government seems intent on making the same mistakes of the past, not learning from them, and walking straight into another scandal in the provision of women's healthcare in this country. Many ask, after the repeal of the eighth amendment and the treatment of women in mother and baby homes, can this Government seriously consider gifting a publicly-funded new national maternity hospital worth €800 million to a private company established by the Religious Sister of Charity.

In December 2018, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, insisted during Dáil questions, "I am not giving any hospital to the nuns." Three years later, the nuns still hold the keys and control of this hospital, despite what they say. St. Vincent's Hospital Group has stated in recent days that "the new national maternity hospital will be clinically independent". From whom will be it be clinically independent? Will it be independent from the HSE? The group has stated, "There will no religious or Vatican influence." It will be an absolute miracle if that is the case because nowhere in the world is healthcare that goes against the ethos of the Catholic Church provided if the lands concerned are owned by the Catholic Church. The group also stated that all medical procedures will be provided in accordance with the laws of the land. In 2017, the Mater Hospital was in the media because it would not provide prescriptions for contraceptives. At the time, the HSE stated it would not get involved or intervene because it was a matter for the Mater itself, as a private institution.

The St. Vincent's Hospital Group has also stated it needs to own this site for the delivery of integrated patient care on the campus. It beggars belief that the group thinks we will fall for that. It wants us to believe it can provide integrated care if it is offered a 150-year lease but cannot if the State owns the land. That makes no sense. The question that all of us, including the Minister, need to ask is why the church and nuns want this complex structure. Why will they not just gift the site to the State as promised? It is clear that this is about power and ethos and not about healthcare.

I listened to the Minister's radio interviews this morning and have a few things to say about them. Women do not want tea and sympathy on this issue. We do not want to hear that the Minister understands our concerns. We want action. We want to see this resolved, once and for all. We want healthcare that is based on science and that will put our needs before those of a religious organisation. We will not be fobbed off by an extra 50 years on a 100-year lease or by so-called ironclad guarantees because, as the Minister said this morning, there is no solution that will keep all the stakeholders happy. The Government is trying to square a circle and that is not going to be possible. The Minister has also said that it would not be conducive to enter these negotiations with a red line in mind but he absolutely must enter these negotiations with a red line in mind. That red line is our healthcare. He cannot go in and negotiate away our rights to healthcare. That must be a red line and if the Minister does not believe that, I ask him to send someone else to negotiate with the nuns.

We refuse to fall foul of power plays any longer. We refuse for our healthcare to be up for discussion or negotiation. It must be based on science and medical need. There is no wrong time for one to admit one has made a mistake and I believe the Government must admit it has made a mistake and do the right thing for women and their families in this country.

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