The proposed move of the National Maternity Hospital to a site owned by the Sisters of Charity is in jeopardy after the board of St Vincent’s announced it plans to review the status of the project. The board said the decision was prompted by “controversy and misinformation that has arisen in recent times” and the views expressed by Minister for Health Simon Harris and other TDs. According to The Irish Times, St Vincent’s was extremely reluctant to agree to the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital to its campus in the first place, and was subjected to considerable pressure from Government and the HSE to accept the plan. A source for the Hospital group said: “Vincent’s didn’t want this at all in the first place. . . They had to be persuaded to take it. Now they’re being portrayed as some sort of Catholic ginger group.”
Meanwhile, Bishop Kevin Doran has said that any Catholic hospital would have to operate in accord with a Catholic ethos. He told the Sunday Times: “A healthcare organisation bearing the name Catholic while offering care to all who need it has a special responsibility…to Catholic teachings about the value of human life and dignity, and the ultimate destiny of the human person.”
