Paul Murphy challenges hospital lease, demands secular maternity care
Deputy Paul Murphy argued the shared island should be secular and socialist, insisting the church must have no role in healthcare or education. He criticised the government's agreement and lease with St Vincent's Healthcare Group and backed a Sinn Féin motion for a public maternity hospital on public land.
Church involvement and lease concern
Paul Murphy said a core principle of the shared island is no church involvement in healthcare or education. He highlighted the government’s signed agreement and lease with St Vincent's Healthcare Group as contradicting that principle.
Question to the Taoiseach
Murphy challenged the Taoiseach over how the government would vote on a motion that opposes the recent decision. He said the Taoiseach had been coy in earlier remarks to Deputy Macdonald about the government’s position.
Government response in the debate
Speakers in the debate said there is no church involvement in the new national maternity hospital, stating the church has divested from St Vincent's Holdings. They described the hospital as secular, with all lawfully permitted services to be provided, and noted full public ownership through a 300 year lease - with the only lease condition being to build and maintain the maternity hospital.
Sinn Féin motion and Murphy's position
The motion from Sinn Féin, which Murphy supported, called for a public maternity hospital on public land. Murphy said the government’s action the previous day ran contrary to that motion.
Co-location and hospital planning
Contributors outlined the rationale for co-locating a maternity hospital within a neonatal centre of excellence adjacent to a tertiary hospital. The debate referenced Hollis Street teaming up with St Vincent's as part of that approach.
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The shared island that we stand for is a secular and socialist island and an essential point of that is no involvement of the church in terms of healthcare, education, that's a very very basic thing and yet the government has signed an agreement and signed a lease with St Vincent's Healthcare Group where the first line of the constitution literally is about the mission of Mary Akinhead who was the founder of the Sisters of Charity responsible for the running of Madeleine. Laundry is completely contradicting that idea and the question for the Taoiseach is he was very coy earlier in response to Deputy Macdonald about how you will vote tonight on a motion that goes exactly against what you did. So the motion from Sinn Fein which we support says it should be a public maternity hospital on public land and so on. The government did the opposite of that yesterday. So how will what's the government position how will you be voting tonight? W. Boyd Barrett and Deputy Murphy raised the issue of the maternity hospital and brought that issue in the context of the shared island. There is no church involvement in the new national maternity hospital. The church has divested itself from St Vincent's Holdings so there is no church involvement. It will be a secular hospital and all lawfully permitted services available in the state will be provided in this hospital into the future and there is full public ownership through the 300 year lease. W. Boyd Barrett and Deputy Murphy, which is not conditional. The only condition on the lease is that we build a maternity hospital and work and maintain the hospital. None of those articles in the lease are not in any sense an imposition on the state nor could they be described as an imposition on the state whatsoever. W. Boyd Barrett and the whole origin of this we are where we are in terms of ownership or voluntary hospitals and all of that historically. But the idea was to co-locate a maternity hospital within the neonatal centre of excellence adjacent to a tertiary hospital. That's what gave rise to Hollis Street teaming up with Vincent into the future. W. Boyd Barrett and the whole country are the highest economic representative in Antarctica and the whole country. That would only be a few more than a place to be. Yeah, thank you very much. Lassie Farley, thank you very much. You and I will be sure you are the first part of this and your journey will be very, very much free to go home to some of your future. Yeah, thanks. Thank you, Chris. Please please. Thank you, Chris. Music as well as you are the first part of the big spectrum, you are the biggest part of the space system, you are the biggest part of the vast majority of the urban development and you are the largest community. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris. Thank you for the next part of the entire domain of the nation of the United Nations World
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