Sinn Féin to table motion calling for maternity hospital to be built on State land
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Sinn Féin is to bring forward a fresh Dáil motion next week calling on the Government to ensure the new National Maternity Hospital is built on land owned by the State.
The motion will call on the Government to “pursue the full realisation of the promise that was made by the Religious Sisters of Charity to gift the land to the people of Ireland” and to “engage, at the highest level, with the new ownership group behind SVHG, St Vincent’s Holdings CLG, to secure full public ownership of the site and new building”.
The motion says that this should ensure “all necessary safeguards, wayleaves, and guarantees to ensure the integrity, integration, and highest quality of care on the site.” It also calls for increased resourcing of the maternity strategy and refurbishment of maternity hospitals and units in need of works.
The motion will also call on the Government “to ensure the full provision of the range of legally available sexual and reproductive health services across all relevant HSE facilities and the advancement of accessible community-based services in this field.”
News that the new motion will bring the row over the National Maternity Hospital into another political week and unlike previous motions which were passed unanimously, this motion is likely to divide on government and non-government lines.
Sinn Féin is hoping it can force wavering government TDs to jump ship.
Earlier today, Tanáiste Leo Varadkar said that the Cabinet will proceed with plans to approve a memo on the relocation at its next meeting on Tuesday.
During the debate in the Dáil on Thursday, Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond said that if more time is needed to debate and consider the issue, beyond next Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, then that should be considered.
Minister Donnelly also said in the Dáil that he does not believe clarifying the term “clinically appropriate”, in terms of procedures available, would represent a substantial legal change, opening the door for further clarifications.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said he can't commit to legal changes in the legal documents underpinning the proposed building of the new National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s.
In the Dáil, during a questions and answers session, Mr Donnelly said he accepted the concern about the lack of a definition of what constitutes “clinically appropriate” in terms of the services to be offered to women treated in the new hospital.
He said however, he could not give a commitment in the Dáil, to altering the documents but said he would reflect on the matter in the coming days.
Mr Donnelly himself acknowledged the “low baseline” in terms of trust a lot of women have toward the health system and the State which may be contributing to the concerns.
Opposition TDs Neasa Hourigan and Roisin Shortall honed in on the issue of the “clinically appropriate” phrase calling for Mr Donnelly to make changes and give that level of comfort to the women of Ireland.
They along with government TD Neale Richmond suggested some addendum or memorandum of understanding to “give that clarity of understanding” that the men and women of Ireland are seeking.
“I'm saying that to you as a government backbencher, we need to have that clarity of definition, not for me. We need to have that reassurance for the dozens and dozens and dozens of women and their husbands, their brothers, their children, their parents who are absolutely flooded in my office,” Mr Richmond said.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said clearly there will be no religious involvement of any kind in the new National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s.
Speaking at the commencement of a Dáil questions and answers session on the controversial proposed deal, Mr Donnelly stated emphatically that the Religious Sisters of Charity no longer have any active role in the running of the existing hospital and nor will they have any role in the new maternity hospital.
"The nuns are gone; they are gone, they ended their active involvement five years ago,” he said.
"The new national maternity hospital will be fully and completely secular. There will be no religious influence, there can be no religious influence. In fact, I waited until that share transfer was completed before bringing any proposals to the cabinet for consideration.”
There is no mechanism for any religious involvement, now or in the future in St Vincent's, or the new National Maternity Hospital, he said.
“I would never propose a new maternity hospital that had or could have any religious influence,” he said.
It is widely agreed that all healthcare services under law must be provided at the new hospital.
This demand is absolutely correct and appropriate and it must be met. The new hospital is being set up to do exactly that, Mr Donnelly said.
The new hospital’s constitution guarantees its clinical and operational independence in the provision of any maternity gynaecology, obstetric or neonatal service that is lawful in the State, the minister told the Dáil.
“But we've gone much further than that. Not only is independence guaranteed to provide all services. The hospital will be required to provide all services,” he said.
This includes terminations, tubal ligations gender affirmation and everything else permitted under law.
Added to that, if for some reason, the hospital was not providing all services, the State via the Minister for Health will have the power to directly intervene to direct the hospital to provide all services, he said.
The hospital's constitution explicitly states that the services must be provided without religious ethos, or ethnic or other distinction.
"The midwives, nurses and doctors in Holles Street who are begging for us to listen to them. They would never agree to anything other than a fully secular hospital.
"These clinicians are the women and the men, providing all services in Holles Street today, they will be providing all services in the new hospital.
"The nuns are gone. And we are not handing over our national maternity hospital. We are not gifting it to anyone else either,” he said.
Mr Donnelly said the new proposed arrangement is a partnership between the State, St Vincent's, and the National Maternity Hospital. The NMH will provide the staff and it will run the new hospital. The State will fund and it will own the new hospital building, he said.
“St Vincent's will provide the land for 300 years. This gives the State leasehold ownership in the same way as people owned the apartments that they buy,” he said.
Each party, the State, St Vincent's and the NMH will appoint three of the nine directors to the board of the new National Maternity Hospital. The National Maternity Hospital, in turn, will appoint directors to the board of St Vincent's, he said.
The new National Maternity Hospital will be fully clinically, operationally, and financially independent, it will have its own constitution, and its own operating license with the HSE, the Dáil heard.
While he said some are still demanding that State ownership of the land should be in the form of a freehold ownership rather than a 300-year leasehold ownership, Mr Donnelly said St Vincent’s has been clear from day one that freehold would not be considered, and regardless of what any of us might think, that has been their position.
“Why? The reason they gave us for this is the ongoing management of the healthcare campus. They point out that there needs to be one owner to ensure it's managed for the multiple services on site,” he said.
Mr Donnelly said a move to compulsorily purchase the site could jeopardise the partnership with St Vincent’s and there is no guarantee the courts would permit such a CPO order.
Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said she was 95% in favour of the project, having had considerable concerns about the nature of the deal.
She called on Mr Donnelly to get agreement to an addendum to the Constitutional document to specify a list of those services that shall be provided in that hospital.
Responding to Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane, who asked as to why there was a need for a Constitution, Mr Donnelly said the partnership being proposed was complex.
“I think we all accept that it's a clinical partnership between two voluntary hospitals but obviously the State generally via the HSE has a role in that. There were very complex negotiations that were a lot of rounds of talks,” Mr Donnelly said.
Mr Cullinane said if the hospital was being built on public land, this level of complexity would not be there. Mr Donnelly accepted that.
On taking office, Mr Donnelly made it clear to St Vincent’s he wanted to see the land taken into public ownership but such requests were turned down.
Mr Cullinane accused Mr Donnelly of “seeking to have it both ways” in that in recent days the ownership issue is now not an issue given the lease.
Mr Donnelly said his position had not changed in that he would prefer the hospital be in public ownership and that relates to the deep suspicions held about the potential role of the Church in women’s healthcare.
He said his initial preference was to seek to make the arrangement as “clear and clean” as possible.