IRELAND
The Journal
MINISTER FOR HEALTH Simon Harris has come out again to strongly defend the government’s decision to allow the new National Maternity Hospital to be built on land owned by religious group the Sisters of Charity.
Addressing the annual general meeting of the Irish Medical Organisation, Harris said that, in this country, “doctors and healthcare professionals make clinical decisions – nobody else”.
However, at the Labour Party national conference today, Joan Burton accused Harris of being “hapless, helpless and hopeless” on the issue.
The question of a religious order owning a maternity hospital providing a range of services for women and children has been subject to severe scrutiny this week.
To date, over 80,000 people have signed a petition calling on a block to be placed on the Sisters of Charity owning the new National Maternity Hospital.
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