New children’s hospital will be secular says Simon Harris

Health Minister Simon Harris has attempted to avoid a repeat of the national maternity hospital fiasco by insisting a new national children’s hospital will be “secular” and completely devoid of any religious control.

At the launch of a group to oversee the development of the long-awaited facility and flanked by chief executives of the existing children’s hospitals, Mr Harris said there will be zero religious involvement in the new facility.

The Government became embroiled in a damaging and drawn-out dispute with the Sisters of Charity religious order earlier this year over its role in the new national maternity hospital.