Church will not have influence over new National Maternity Hospital, says Donnelly

Michael Bolton

The Minister for Health says plans for the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) are on track to proceed.

Stephen Donnelly is seeking Cabinet approval to go out to tender for the construction of the building on Tuesday morning.

The new hospital is set to have 80 more beds than the current NMH at Holles Street, all of which will be individual rooms.

The hospital, which is set to be located next to St Vincent's in Dublin, has been mired in political controversy over what influence the Catholic Church could have on its services.

However, Mr Donnelly said there will not be any church influence, giving a "100 per cent guarantee" that every service provided for in law, including abortion, will be delivered there.

"There were a lot of things said at the time from particular quarters which were simply untrue, they were verifiable untrue, and unfortunately, I think a lot of good people were misled.

"What I said from day one is let's listen to the doctors, let's listen to the women and men who are delivering these services.

"What they have said every single time, and we have had hours of committee hearing, the concerns being put forward, and some of the things said, were not true," Mr Donnelly said.