Niamh Griffin: State ownership of healthcare should allow for full transparency

Calls to end the involvement of the Catholic Church have put massive pressure on the State to step up

Protesters campaigning against Catholic Church ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital outside Leinster House. 

Calls to end the involvement of the Catholic Church in healthcare have put massive pressure on the State to step up, and the consequences of this are only starting to be understood.

The current row over the location of the National Maternity Hospital is just one front in this cultural shift, although by far the most bitterly-fought to date.