Simon Harris: New maternity hospital to be free from religious influence

The disputes and delays that have dogged the development of a new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) appear at an end after the health minister cleared the way for the process to proceed.

In approving the contract for the first phase development — a pharmacy and carpark — at the St Vincent’s University Hospital campus in Dublin, Simon Harris said he was “fully confident” the new hospital will be free from the religious influence [of the Sisters of Charity], whose potential involvement had been the subject of heated public debate, including protest marches.