May 10, 2022

The NMH and the land underneath must be owned outright by our state

The NMH and the land underneath must be owned outright by our state

The new National Maternity Hospital will be built on land that was owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity. That land is now owned by St Vincent’s Healthcare Group. The Sisters gave up ownership of the land in 2017 after people raised concerns over the hospital being built on Catholic land which would mean it had to follow Catholic rules.

You are probably aware that the Catholic Church prohibits abortion and tubal ligation. But did you know the Church also prohibits IVF, artificial insemination and surrogacy?

But isn’t this all just a red herring?

No, it’s not.

The Sisters transferred the ownership of the land to the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group. But the SVHG has written into its constitution that it intends to “conduct and maintain the Facilities in accordance with the Health Care Philosophy and Ethical Code of the Religious Sisters of Charity.”

If you would like more information on that please read through this brilliant thread on the issue:

I do not understand all the ins and outs of how the HSE are going to lease the land from SVHG. And at the moment I’m bunged up with a bad cold. So I’m not even going to attempt to do research on it now.

But please remember the words of Dr Peter Boylan in his letter of resignation to the Board of the NMH

Hospitals on land owned by the Catholic Church are obliged to follow Catholic teaching and Canon Law on medical practices and procedures. The proposed hospital will be built on land owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity, the hospital will be owned outright by the Religious Sister of Charity, and the company tasked with running the hospital will be owned outright by the Religious Sisters of Charity. To believe the new National Maternity Hospital will be the only hospital in the world owned by a Catholic congregation to permit sterilisation, IVF, abortion, gender reassignment surgery and any other procedures prohibited by the Church is naïve and delusional.

This is why it matters who owns the land on which the hospital is built

This land is no longer owned by the Catholic Church. Instead it is now owned by a company that has written into its constitution a commitment to uphold the health care philosophy and ethical code of a Catholic order.

If the Minister for Health, or indeed anyone, can find a healthcare facility with such a commitment which permits sterilisation, IVF, abortion, gender reassignment surgery and any other procedures prohibited by the Church, then I will accept that the issue of who owns the land on which the hospital is built is a red herring.

No such facility exists anywhere in the world. So the issue of who owns the land is very very important. And it is deeply insulting and disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

The last post I wrote about this was very respectful and very heartfelt. I meant every word of it. And I still do.

But I cannot understand the attitude of our government. How do they not see how important this issue is?

The NMH needs to be a public hospital built on public lands where people can access all the procedures they require or elect to have. Maternity hospitals are where life begins. And sometimes very difficult choices have to be made within their walls.

Let’s not make things more difficult than they need to be. Let’s give our new national maternity hospital the right start.

Listen to those who know

Honestly, I do not know the ins and outs of the issues of ownership and leasing. But there are plenty of people who do. Please read this thread by Dr Peter Boylan –

We can see examples of rights being rolled back throughout our world. In Ireland knowledge of the damage this can do is still fresh in our minds. We need to ensure that the rights we have fought for are protected now and into the future.

The new NMH must be indisputably secularist. It must be fully owned by and fully under the control of the state.

Filed Under: Ramblings & Rants