Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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70. To ask the Minister for Health if he will halt the handover of the new national maternity hospital to a private entity and ensure that this institution is in full public ownership in order to protect women’s lives, health and choices. [50595/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am committed to the development of the new maternity hospital on the St Vincent's campus. This is a vital project for women and babies in Ireland, representing the flagship project of the National Maternity Strategy and the largest single investment ever made in maternity services in Ireland.

Considerable work has been undertaken to develop a legal framework to protect the State's significant investment in the new hospital and to ensure that the new hospital building will remain in State ownership. The proposals will require consideration by Government, the National Maternity Hospital and the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group before they are finalised. This legal framework will underpin the operational and clinical independence of the new hospital, ensuring care in the new maternity hospital will be delivered without religious, ethnic or other distinction and any medical procedure which is in accordance with the laws of the land will be carried out there.