The existing Holles Street hospital is to be closed and moved to the grounds of St Vincent’s Hospital. An example of Co-Location where we put the two hospitals together, in this instance a maternity hospital with a major teaching hospital. So far so good.
The State is giving sole ownership of the New Maternity Hospital, a €300 million complex planned for Elm Park campus, next to St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin to the Sisters of Charity! This has excited people and not necessarily for good reason.
The Sisters of Charity is a religious order that has paid just €2 million of the €5 million that it promised to pay in compensation after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, published its report, in 2009. 40% of what it promised to pay and the State are gifting them a €300 million complex because they own the land that the state is going to build the hospital on!
It appears to some that governance issues are resolved, and all involved (bar a lot of the taxpayers) appear happy. I was listening to the Master of the hospital Rhona Mahony and heard her say it will “be clinically and operationally entirely independent, in line with national maternity policy”. Simon Harris has said similar. He also claims that the Government will have a golden share! that said the St Vincent’s Group will still have 4 of their own nominees as directors of the hospital.
What is the benefit to the Sisters of Charity of owning the new National Maternity Hospital? Why do they want to own it and I suppose more to the point why is it being given to them?
Well a former Master of the National Maternity Hospital Dr. Peter Boylan said that if IVF, sterilisation, abortion and gender reassignment were to be carried out at the National Maternity Hospital, it would be the only hospital in the world owned and run by a Catholic order to allow them. It appears that these are some of the proposed functions of the maternity hospital and these may well be contrary to teaching of the Catholic Church and so contrary to the ethos of the hospital. Maybe he’s just trying to panic people?
Our own Bishop Kevin Doran in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper confirmed that Catholic Hospitals must follow Catholic rules. He referred to three tenets of canon law which decree that land held by religious institutions is “ecclesiastical property” over which the Pope has “primacy of governance”. He said he was speaking “in general terms” as the National Maternity Hospital is not in his diocese and he was unfamiliar with the legal relationship between the Sisters of Charity and St Vincent’s Healthcare Group. In fairness to Bishop Kevin he may well have put clarity into the discussion and has shown that the Master of the National Maternity Hospital may not have been 100% correct on her take of the situation.
This highlights the crux of the issue for lots of people, we’re in the 21st century and feel that secularism is a way forward especially in multicultural Ireland. We have as a society in recent years started to totally abhor church involvement in Education, Health and Social Services in general. Sometimes for valid reasons other times purely on reasons of principle. A wise friend once told me that principles are a fine thing if you can afford to keep to them!
Speaking to the Irish Medical Organisation, Harris said the new hospital was desperately needed: “It is not good enough for women to have to put up with delivering their babies in Holles Street, which the master very clearly says is not fit for purpose.”
Now back to the debate. Why did it take so long for this to come out? How well was the preparation done? Were all bases covered? Was an effort made to take the corners off the peg to fit them into the round hole??
I’m delighted that debate has started at last, I agree we need a new hospital however is a short-term gain going to get in the way of long term problems? We may find ourselves on a very sticky wicket in a few years’ time.
For me this highlights a lot of things. Firstly, Church and State are two conflicting entities, we claim to be a modern Republic and the State can look after its people, but can it? Government has tried to put “smacht” on the church remember Enda closed our embassy to The Holy See and yet in times of need we go back to the church. Secondly, we fail to think things through, major decisions are not “tested”. In other words, we don’t look at the possible outcomes down the road. What may happen?? Thirdly cabinet are signing off on major plans without proper discussion. Fourthly it appears we don’t learn from our mistakes in fact the arrogance displayed in not anticipating the backlash is the genesis of that backlash. And most importantly I believe that there was an attempt to hoodwink us regarding the running of the hospital. Simon Harris and the Master of the Hospital want this hospital at any cost. The fact that the Bishop of Elphin was the one to clear things up highlights why we need to be so careful when we’re dealing with taxpayers money and that our Ministers are not always stating the facts!
I still think that the land ownership must be resolved. It would be best for all (especially the nuns) if the land was sold to the state, the debt that the sisters have with the state be written off and the new hospital be built. I believe that everyone would win as there is absolutely no need for this row to continue.
We should be respectful of the great Samaritan work of Irish nuns. But hospitals are now the responsibility of Government, not charities.
