IRELAND
The Times (UK)
Ellen Coyne
April 22 2017
The Times
The Catholic healthcare group that is set to own the new National Maternity Hospital has responded to a growing public backlash by suggesting it would pull out of the project.
The St Vincent’s Healthcare Group is owned by the Sisters of Charity, who also own the proposed site for the hospital. St Vincent’s said last night that it was going to re-examine the project at its next board meeting, blaming “controversy and misinformation” and citing comments by Simon Harris, the health minister, and other TDs.
Opposition politicians condemned the group, saying they were threatening the future of the hospital. The minister did not respond directly to the group’s remarks last night but said in a statement that he was still “fully committed” to the new maternity hospital and defended public-private hospital ownership.
Last month, The Times revealed that the Sisters of Charity, which still owes €3 million in child abuse redress, was to be given the new National Maternity Hospital after it is built with €300 million of taxpayers’ money.
The new hospital is to be built on the Elm Park site at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin, a site which is owned by the Sisters of Charity. The Department of Health said that the option of the state buying the land from the religious order “never arose”.
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