Doctor in Charge of Planning ˆ300 Million Hospital Steps down

By Laura Lyne
Dublin Live
April 28, 2017

http://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/national-maternity-hospital-doctor-charge-12957014


The doctor in charge of planning the ˆ300 million National Maternity Hospital building has resigned from the project board.

Dr Chris Fitzpatrick stepped down from the board in support of Dr Peter Boylan who stepped down yesterday.

Boylan has been highly critical of the plan to give ownership of the new hospital to the Sisters of Charity, which owns the St Vincent's site where the new NMH will be built.

Dr Peter Boylan (Photo: Collins)

Dr Fitzpatrick is the former master of the Coombe hospital and has compared the controversy to a row between the Catholic Church and minister for health Noel Browne over the Mother and Child Scheme in the 1950s.

According to the Irish Times, he said in his recognition letter that he shared Dr Boylan's concerns about plans for the ownership of the hospital.

He continued: "What is happening has unfortunate resonances of Dr Noel Browne versus archbishop John Charles McQuaid and the Mother and Child Scheme controversy of the 1950s – and sadly we know how Irish women lost out on that opportunity."