Gino Kenny on antiquated maternity services and church interference
Gino Kenny criticised the state of maternity services, condemning religious interference and a two-tier private-public system. He argued services are antiquated, called for modernisation, warned access to abortion remains uneven across regions, and raised concerns about a '300 years clause' and land being handed to a private entity.
Overview of criticisms
He described the recent weeks as a "sorry saga", saying nine years of successive governments have failed to get maternity services right. He insisted maternity hospitals are antiquated and in need of modernisation.
Religious interference in healthcare
He traced a "sorry sorry past" of religious interference in women's healthcare and said the central debate is about the role of religion in health services. He urged that the past must be examined as part of reform.
Two-tier system and abortion access
He criticised a two-tier system - private and public - that he said creates fault lines across society. He highlighted that, in some parts of Ireland, people still cannot access abortion services and called that a fact.
Future, generational change and land concerns
He warned the future is ambiguous because of the "300 years clause" and said the current generation rejects Christian doctrine, shaped by marriage equality and repeal, and will demand separation of church and state. He cautioned the government may have made a serious mistake by handing a piece of land to a private entity, a decision people may regret in 10-15 years.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Minister, to say the last two weeks have been a sorry saga is an underestimation and in the last nine years successful governments have had a chance to get this right and in their opinion they've got it very very wrong and we all agree that maternity services in Ireland, the places where women have children are very antiquated, we all agree with that and it needs to be modernised and what the heart of the debate has been and not only in the last nine years is in relation to religious interference in healthcare and that has had a sorry sorry past and we have to look at the past, the present and the future and the past as I said has been religious interference in relation to women's healthcare and it's been a sorry sorry past. In the present we have a system that's two tiered that is private and private and public and is causes fault lines across society and in situations where if you live in a certain part of Ireland you still can't get access to abortion services, that's fact and the future is what we don't know and that's what kind of leaves this ambiguity in relation to the 300 years clause but there's one thing we know Minister is the generation the generation that exists now is a generation that throws the yoke of Christian doctrine away and it throws all the inequality that existed before. It has the shape of marriage equality and repeal and that's the generation that exists now and that's the generation that will accept nothing less than separating church from state. Time will tell whether the government have made an enormous mistake and people will look back in maybe 10-15 years and why did they hand that piece of land over to a private entity. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
