Maternity hospital will provide terminations and gender reassignments, says Donnelly

The location for the new €1bn hospital was agreed in 2016, at a site adjacent to the current campus of St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin. File picture: Colin Keegan

The new National Maternity Hospital will provide all services, including terminations and gender reaffirming surgery, Stephen Donnelly has said.

The decision to defer the final approval of plans for the new National Maternity Hospital was in a bid to be transparent after "genuine concerns" had been raised by members of Cabinet, the health minister has said.

The Government last night pressed pause on the plan to move the National Maternity Hospital to the St Vincent’s Hospital campus.

The proposal was brought to Cabinet by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly but it is understood that Fine Gael ministers and Arts, Culture, and Media Minister Catherine Martin asked for more time to consider it. 

The issue will be revisited by Cabinet in two weeks after documents in relation to the deal are discussed with the Oireachtas health committee. The legal framework documents were published on the HSE website last night.

A senior Government source said that the documents had “landed late” and that there was “a lot of misinformation and conspiracy theories” around the proposal, and that it was “OK to take a beat” before signing off on the plan. 

Sources said Ms Martin was particularly hesitant, raising concerns about the protection of services at the hospital.

Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning, Mr Donnelly said it was not wrong for ministerial colleagues to express concern given the uneasy history of women's reproductive health and the church but he cautioned that "we can't lose sight of how important this is."

Mr Donnelly said that the new hospital would be fully operationally independent, clinically independent and would provide all services legally permitted in the country including termination, tubal ligation, gender reassignment and reproductive assistance.

The Cabinet had agreed that due to concerns about transparency, the way to proceed would be to note the agreement and then release to the public the documentation.

All services would be provided at the new hospital, he repeated, this was guaranteed by the operating licence. People wanted reassurance that there would be no religious influence, he said. There would be no representative of the religious order on the board of the new hospital.

The transfer of the land from the order to the State had been completed last week, he said. When asked about the opinion of the Vatican on the transfer, the Minister said that the "Vatican had nothing to do with the transfer.” 

The land was now under a 299-year lease. It did not matter who owned the land, said Mr Donnelly, it was more important who owns and runs the hospital. Under the Mulvey Agreement of 2016, there was a legal structure involving two voluntary hospitals and the State to create a world class health campus.

Current hospital 'a constant building site'

Speaking at a briefing after Cabinet's meeting last night, the master of the National Maternity Hospital, Shane Higgins, said there is a "clinical imperative" to proceed with the move as proposed. 

He said the current hospital is "a constant building site". His predecessor, Dr Rhona Mahony, said she was aware that people have concerns about the hospital, but that “every procedure available under Irish law”, including termination of pregnancy and tubal ligation, will be performed at the hospital, a point that Mr Donnelly repeated.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the agreement had 'multiple layers of protections' for services and that the health minister of the day will have a 'golden share' in the hospital which allows them to intervene. File picture

The Government said in a statement that the Cabinet had “noted” the finalised legal framework agreed with the HSE, St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, and the National Maternity Hospital (NMH), which includes that the term of the site lease be 299 years at a rent of €10 and provides increased State representation on the board of the new NMH. 

The board will now include three independent public interest directors selected and appointed by the health minister, alongside three nominated by St Vincent’s University Hospital and three nominated by the NMH, with the role of chair to rotate between the three groups of nominees.

Mr Donnelly also asked the Government to note that the legal framework documents were approved by the boards of the NMH and St Vincent’s Healthcare Group; that “the framework will protect the State’s significant investment in the new NMH and copper-fasten the principle that any medical procedure which is in accordance with the laws of the land will be provided there”; and that “the clinical and operational independence of the new NMH will be underpinned by a combination of safeguards”.

Mr Donnelly also told Cabinet that the Religious Sisters of Charity transferred its shares in SVHG to St Vincent’s Holdings CLG, as of April 28, and “no longer have any involvement in SVHG”.

Former master of NMH raises concerns

However, a former master of the National Maternity Hospital has insisted that questions still need to be answered about the relocation of the hospital and the involvement of any Catholic ethos.

Dr Peter Boylan wrote to Taoiseach Micheál Martin following the announcement by the Religious Sisters of Charity that they have transferred their shareholding in St Vincent’s Healthcare Group to St Vincent’s Holdings.

In the letter, copied to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, Dr Boylan states: "I see absolutely no justification for the new publicly funded National Maternity Hospital to be owned by St Vincent’s Holdings."

Mr Donnelly said that Dr Boylan was mistaken in his concerns. He said there is “no question of religious involvement” at the site that the holding company “absolutely cannot” sell parts of itself, and is, “to all intents and purposes”, a charity. He said this was the “unambiguous legal position”.