IRELAND
Irish Independent
Dr Ciara Kelly
April 30 2017
The public outcry over the gifting of the proposed new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) to the Sisters of Charity, who own St Vincent’s Hospital, has been described by Dr Rhona Mahony – the current Master of Holles Street – as a storm in a teacup.
She said the clinical independence of the proposed state-of-the-art hospital is unequivocal and that the agreement between the two hospitals – NMH and St Vincent’s – will result in a fully self-governing maternity hospital free from any outside interference.
I could sense her frustration on Morning Ireland last week, on which she gave a strong and emphatic defence of the project, ending with her saying, in no uncertain terms, that the nuns will have nothing to do with the new maternity hospital.
Of course, she is wrong. They will have something to do with the hospital. They will own it. The State will gift it to them in exchange for us being allowed to build the €300m hospital on their land. Some people have described that as a fair exchange – the land for the hospital – except the Sisters of Charity get to keep the land, too.
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