Letters to the Editor: Women must get secular maternity healthcare

Only public ownership and control of the new maternity hospital can guarantee comprehensive, secular care

Controversy over the private ownership and control of the new National Maternity Hospital has been reignited following the briefing given by the Campaign Against Church Ownership of Women’s Healthcare to Oireachtas members, which was hosted by Deputy Roisin Shortall on April 26.

The cost of the new build is set to overrun by a multiple of the original cost, estimated at €150m in 2013. Taxpayers cannot be asked to pay for a new maternity hospital which is to be forever owned and ethically controlled by the Catholic Church.