Ireland: Keep the Church Out of Women's Healthcare

 

From Saoirse Nic Gabhainn

 

Why the Religious Sisters of Charity takeover bid for the new maternity hospital must be stopped

The deal reached between the nuns' company, St Vincent's Healthcare Group, and Holles Street Hospital on the planned new hospital is almost ready to go. Unless we take immediate action, the new maternity hospital will end up in private Catholic ownership and will be ruled by Church teaching. Access to comprehensive reproductive health services will be heavily curtailed.

The services provided by the new maternity hospital will impact everyone. Women with complicated pregnancies from every part of the country will be referred to the new hospital.

We still remember the shocking circumstances under which Savita Halapannavar lost her life. We cannot have a situation where more lives will be lost during a wanted pregnancy, as hers was.

The nuns' plan for the new NMH

The nuns will allow the new hospital to be built on their lands in the grounds of their hospitals in Dublin 4. They have set up a new company, St Vincent's Holdings, to own the new maternity hospital at Elm Park.

The congregation plans to grant a lease to the government to build the new facility. They own the freehold of the site. The new building is to be funded out of the public purse.

The nuns' lease will allow the government to build the hospital on condition exclusive rights are given (by way of licence) to a new company that will be owned, lock, stock and barrel, by the nuns' company, St Vincent's Holdings. The new hospital is to be ruled by the congregational ethos. No IVF, contraception, abortions or sterilisations (for family planning purposes) are carried out in the nuns' hospitals.

A crippling deal

The lease to be granted by the congregation to the government cripples the State. The government is to build the new maternity hospital for the nuns, at an initial cost of at least €500 million, and to fund all maintenance and running costs.

Despite this, the State will be excluded from the running of the hospital.

This arrangement will see Holles Street Hospital stripped of its independence. The nuns have seen to it that the new maternity hospital will be run on their terms, and that it will provide reproductive health services that are in line with their values.

A national issue

We are asking every group and every person who wants to see a free, fair and secular society to rally to our cause. For many, the separation of Church and State is a priority. Those who voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment want to see Repeal in action. Plenty want to see a comprehensive public health system put in place.

 

Many people want all of the above.

We may not have long to stop this deal. The legal documents underpinning it are almost ready to go to government.

Only a broad and concerted campaign can stop it now.

What our campaign has achieved so far

This week, a large cross section of TDs and senators met with us to discuss the issue. The result was a new cross party Oireachtas group, chaired by Deputy Roisin Shortall, dedicated to bringing the National Maternity Hospital into public ownership. Oireachtas members cannot do it alone. They are relying on us to mobilise a broadly based movement to succeed in our shared goal.

Please share this as soon as possible, as widely as possible. We are developing a template letter/email about the new maternity hospital for people to send to their TDs (to follow).

For the history of this deal, and for background material, please see:

https://www.facebook.com/OurMaternityHospital