Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, to the House on International Women's Day. Later today, the Seanad will honour nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell who served much of her life in the national maternity hospital. It is perhaps fitting that I now ask the Minister of State and the Minister for Health to review plans for the national maternity hospital, take steps to ensure the hospital has full public ownership and accountability, and ensure the land it is built on is owned by the State and not subject to a limited period lease, which could compromise the provision of maternity and reproductive healthcare for future generations.

This State has a sad history of failing women when it comes to maternal and reproductive health, from symphysiotomy to CervicalCheck, and transferring power to religious charities when it comes to pregnant women.We were painfully reminded of the consequences of that abdication of responsibility by the recent appalling report on mother and baby homes.

This power has been tightly held. When Dr. Noël Browne attempted to introduce the mother and child scheme, it was blocked by religious pressure. Just last year, the State was in the unacceptable position of waiting to hear if the Vatican would give permission to the Sisters of Charity regarding a proposed site for a new national maternity hospital. When that permission came, it had conditions. Despite headlines about gifting the land to the people of Ireland, it emerged that it had not been given to the State, but transferred to a trust, St. Vincent's Holdings, from which the State would lease the land for a period of just 99 years. Dr. Peter Boylan has spoken about how the board of the national maternity hospital has been told that the deal is complex and not a regular deal, the documents will not be regular and there will be a plethora of different structures and ownerships. Religious orders have become proficient in the shifting of assets and accountability through complex company structures, but this does not mean that they lose sight of long-term ownership and control. The new charitable trust's constitution, lodged with the Companies Registration Office last August, is similar to the constitution of the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group. Clause 5.11 specifies that the directors may hold, sell, manage, lease or mortgage any or all of the parts of the company's property. This is a major hostage to fortune.

Why would any trust, charitable or not, have control of any kind over our national maternity hospital? Why is this trust allowed to lease the land to the State instead of selling or giving it? Why is the State diluting its responsibilities again? The Sisters of Charity, whose documented role in illegal adoptions has been a subject of recent public outrage, last week called for an investigation into that matter dating back to 1922. If they can ask us to investigate mistakes made 99 years ago, I will ask the Minister of State to look forward 99 years, which is the proposed length of the lease. That is not very long. We are talking about our children's children's children. We will spend millions of euro on a hospital, then the lease will expire and maternal and reproductive healthcare will suddenly be up for negotiation again. We are in a different Ireland. It is even different than it was for the 2016 Mulvey report. The people of our country have broken their silence and taken back control of women's reproductive rights. The State has had to apologise time and again for how it failed women in the past. Let it learn from that and not make bad compromises that will fail the women of the future.

At a time when EU fiscal rules are suspended and 0% loans are available, there is no financial justification for giving our national maternity hospital to a charitable trust. I call on the Minister of State to deliver something better. Commit to a review of the plans and take steps, including a compulsory purchase order if necessary, to ensure full public control, public accountability and public ownership of our national maternity hospital.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I wish everyone a happy International Women's Day. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly.

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on this issue and to confirm that the Government is firmly committed to the development of a new national maternity hospital on the St. Vincent's University Hospital campus at Elm Park. It should be acknowledged that the national maternity hospital project is unprecedented and inherently complex, given that we are relocating one voluntary hospital onto the campus of another voluntary hospital to a hospital building owned by the State. Therefore, a legal framework is being developed to protect the State's investment in the new national maternity hospital and to ensure that the hospital remains in State ownership.

The hospital will be built on the site leased from the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group. I am satisfied that its development on a site with a leasehold interest of 99 years and rights of renewal will not in any way compromise the provision of maternity care for future generations. On the contrary, by building the new hospital, we will secure maternity care for future generations of women.

The corporate and clinical governance arrangements for the new maternity hospital at Elm Park are encompassed in the Mulvey agreement, which was finalised following an extensive mediation process between the National Maternity Hospital and the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group.The Mulvey agreement provides for the establishment of a new company, the national maternity hospital at Elm Park DAC, which will have clinical and operational as well as financial and budgetary independence in the provision of maternity, gynaecological and neonatal services. It ensures a full range of services will be available at the hospital without religious, ethnic or other distinction. It is important to emphasise that those overriding objectives will be copper-fastened through the legal framework. I acknowledge that the development of the legal framework has proved to be more difficult and deliberations more protracted than originally anticipated, but I understand there has been good ongoing engagement between the key stakeholders. I am advised it is anticipated that discussions will be concluded and the drafting of the legal documents finalised in the coming weeks. It should be noted that once finalised, the legal framework will be brought to the Government for approval.

I am conscious the buildings in Holles Street are no longer fit for purpose. The national maternity strategy sets out a vision for future maternity services where women are treated with dignity and respect in an appropriate physical environment. We must now move forward with building the new national maternity hospital and providing the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the delivery of modern, safe, high-quality maternity services for women and infants.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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The Mulvey agreement is outdated and precedes a number of significant changes. Protracted negotiations should not be needed because the only stakeholders who matter, whom the State should have to accommodate or please, are the women of Ireland. It should not have to negotiate with others. A stronger approach is needed. Ninety-nine years is not a long time in the context of the generations to come. The structures are clear. It could be the case that a company with its own motivations could have mortgaged properties, could have created debt attached to properties and could create a long and more protracted negotiation in 99 years' time. Let us not bequest that to the women of the future. We are in a different fiscal situation now and the State can access funds in a way that it perhaps could not have a few years ago. I ask the Minister of State to reconsider our approach on this issue without delay.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will note all the Senator's comments and relay them to the Minister. I take on board what she said about the Mulvey report being outdated and about Ireland having moved on a great deal since it was commissioned and finalised. I also take on board the point about the 99-year lease, although I am sure the State is examining all the legal frameworks. I will take on board everything the Senator said. Given that the matter will come before the Houses again, I am sure that further discussions will give everyone the opportunity to contribute.