Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 October 2018
410. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Health when he plans to sign contracts with the new national maternity hospital; the guarantees he has secured to ensure that reproductive services including abortion will be provided in this hospital; and if he will report to Dáil Éireann before contracts are signed [43519/18]
View answerFollowing extensive mediation discussions, agreement was reached between the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group and the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) on the relocation of the NMH to the Elm Park campus. The terms of this agreement provides for the establishment of a new company which will have clinical and operational, as well as financial and budgetary independence in the provision of maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services.
It is vitally important that the legal and governance arrangements associated with this project are robust. Considerable work has been undertaken to develop a legal framework to protect the State's significant investment in the new hospital. This legal framework will underpin the operational and clinical independence of the new hospital, ensuring care in the new maternity hospital will be delivered without religious, ethnic or other distinction and any medical procedure which is in accordance with the laws of the land will be carried out there. Once finalised, proposals will be subject to consideration with the parties concerned.
While the approval process is one for myself, as Minister for Health, I can confirm that I intend to brief Government once the legal framework has been finalised. I will, of course, be very happy to share the agreement with the House, as appropriate, in due course.
