Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Maternity care and healthcare for women has for too long been an afterthought and even taboo in this State. The roll call of victims of an aggressive religious dogma in healthcare settings is heartbreaking. Far too many Irish women have paid far too high a price. So the new national maternity hospital is absolutely vital for the delivery of modern, progressive healthcare for women in Ireland and everybody wants to see this hospital built and built quickly. But we also have to get it right.

Yesterday, the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, brought a memo to the Cabinet seeking the green light for the development of the hospital on the St. Vincent's site. This was, I believe, a premature move and I welcome that decision has been paused. It is essential that the Oireachtas is afforded the opportunity to scrutinise, consider and debate the details of this proposal. It is right that this will now happen.

The Taoiseach is aware there are legitimate concerns surrounding the ownership structure and the clinical independence of the hospital and there is strong grounds for these concerns given the history of that relationship between church and State which denied healthcare services to generations of women. The Minister for Health stated this morning that he can absolutely 100% guarantee that all women's healthcare services allowable under Irish law will be provided at the new hospital. These guarantees must be cast-iron legal protections and not simply rhetorical assurances. In the same interview, the Minister for Health referred to criticism of the ownership model as a “red herring”. That is not a fair characterisation of what are well-founded concerns. The State proposes an investment of €800 million possibly increasing to €1 billion when all is said and done. That is taxpayers’ money; the State should own the hospital and the ground that the hospital is built on outright. That is simple common sense.

Under the Government proposal, we will own the building but not the land which will remain in private ownership. That makes absolutely no sense when the State is footing the bill. We need a publicly built maternity hospital on publicly owned land, delivering public healthcare services for women to a standard of excellence. Instead what is proposed is a convoluted maze in which the Sisters of Charity have transferred the land to a holdings company that then leases the land to the State. It is all very messy, unnecessarily so, and it is stoking unease and worry. People ask why on earth is this happening. Surely the best solution is for the Sisters of Charity to have gifted the land to the State and to ensure and guarantee full public ownership of the entire hospital. This would protect the State's investment and address so many of the concerns of so many who fear still that religious dogma could compromise the delivery of healthcare.

Tá an t-ospidéal náisiúnta máithreachais nua róthábhachtach. Caithfimid é a fháil i gceart chun neamhspleáchas cliniciúil a chinntiú agus infheistíocht phoiblí a chosaint. Ní mór don Rialtas úinéireacht Stáit iomlán a chinntiú den talamh ar a bhfuil an t-ospidéal le tógáil.

We have to get this right and we have to work together to get it right. I will put the proposition simply: we need to achieve full State ownership for the new hospital and the land on which the hospital is built. This has to be done before any contracts are signed.

Will the Taoiseach work urgently to convince St. Vincent's Healthcare Group to gift that land to the State?

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