IRELAND
Irish Times
Kitty Holland, Michael O’Regan
An alternative site for a national maternity hospital (NMH) must be found if a deal that would see the State have full control of the facility cannot be brokered with the Sisters of Charity, Labour leader Brendan Howlin has said.
Mr Howlin was speaking at the end of his party’s conference in Wexford on Sunday in response to assertions by the Bishop of Elphin, Kevin Doran, who said the congregation which owns the site of the planned hospital in Dublin would have to apply Roman Catholic teaching in the new facility.
Bishop Doran told the Sunday Times: “A healthcare organisation bearing the name Catholic while offering care to all who need it has a special responsibility…to Catholic teachings about the value of human life and dignity, and the ultimate destiny of the human person.”
When asked in August 2013 by The Irish Times if St Vincent’s University Hospital would carry out abortions to save a woman’s life, a spokesman said the hospital would “as always be following the law of the land”.
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