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Sinn Féin will bring forward a fresh Dáil motion next week calling on the Government to ensure the new National Maternity Hospital is built on land owned by the State.
Both the Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar indicated on Thursday that the Cabinet will proceed with plans to approve a memo on the relocation at its next meeting on Tuesday.
The Government had hoped to allay concerns about the move which centred around governance, ownership and ethos given the new hospital will be located on land which will be leased back by a new company, St Vincent’s Holdings.
The Religious Sisters of Charity recently transferred their shareholding to the company and said they would have no further involvement in healthcare on the campus.
The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has spent recent days briefing the political parties, Oireachtas committees and the Dáil in a bid to address outstanding questions.
The fresh Sinn Féin motion will bring the controversy into another political week with a vote scheduled for next Wednesday evening.
The motion will call on the Government to “pursue the full realisation of the promise that was made by the Religious Sisters of Charity to gift the land to the people of Ireland” and to “engage, at the highest level, with the new ownership group behind SVHG, St Vincent’s Holdings CLG, to secure full public ownership of the site and new building”.
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Safeguards’
The motion says that this should ensure “all necessary safeguards, wayleaves, and guarantees to ensure the integrity, integration, and highest quality of care on the site.”
It also calls for increased resourcing of the maternity strategy and refurbishment of maternity hospitals and units in need of works.
The motion will also call on the Government “to ensure the full provision of the range of legally available sexual and reproductive health services across all relevant HSE facilities and the advancement of accessible community-based services in this field.”
The motion could put pressure on Government TDs due to the timing after Cabinet. In the Dáil on Thursday, Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond said that if more time is needed to debate and consider the issue, beyond next Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, then that should be considered.
Minister Donnelly also said in the Dáil that he does not believe clarifying the term “clinically appropriate”, in terms of procedures available, would represent a substantial legal change, opening the door for further clarifications.