IRELAND
Irish Independent
Amy Molloy
April 20 2017
THE Government, and specifically health minister Simon Harris, has been heavily criticised since it emerged that ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital – which will be funded to the tune of €300m by the taxpayer – will be handed over to the Sisters of Charity.
A demonstration will take place outside the Department of Health in Dublin at 1pm today and over 50,000 people have signed a petition in a bid to prevent the religious order from becoming owners of the new hospital.
Here is what you need to know about the controversy:
Who are the Sisters of Charity?
The Sisters of Charity are a congregation of religious women founded in Dublin. They are involved in healthcare, education and also carry out work with asylum seekers and homeless people.
However, they were also one of the organisations included in the Ryan Report, which unveiled a vast amount of systematic institutional abuse going back decades.
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