Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is to seek clarification on the Mater Hospital’s statement that it will comply with the Government’s abortion legislation.

The hospital’s stance, announced last week, is at odds with that of the Catholic hierarchy, which condemned the legislation. The Mater is a Catholic hospital.

However the Archbishop said that even though he was president of the hospital he had no powers in the governance of the hospital.

The Archdiocese of Dublin is listed as being part of the corporate ownership of the Mater Hospital, and the Archbishop has a nominee on the hospital’s board of directors.

He was speaking at a Mass at the conclusion of a two-day international conference on addiction hosted by the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association.

Archbishop Martin defended the Mater Hospital’s pro life record saying it had been ‘scrupulous’ in trying to defend both the life of mother and the unborn child, The Irish Independent reports.

He paid tribute to the Mater hospital’s “great tradition of caring for very difficult pregnancies and doing it well within the ethos of the hospital over years”.

“There have been extremely complicated (pregnancies) and I know that they are scrupulous in the policy of trying to defend both the life of the mother and the unborn child. I hope that that continues,” he said.

Last week’s statement said: “The Mater Hospital has carefully considered the Act. The Hospital’s priority is to be at the frontier of compassion, concern and clinical care for all our patients. Having regard to that duty, the Hospital will comply with the law as provided for in the act.”