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Vol. 261 Wednesday, No. 13 5 December 2018 DÍOSPÓIREACHTAÍ PARLAIMINTE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES SEANAD ÉIREANN TUAIRISC OIFIGIÚIL—Neamhcheartaithe (OFFICIAL REPORT—Unrevised) Insert Date Here 05/12/2018A00100Business of Seanad 833 05/12/2018A00300Commencement Matters 834 05/12/2018A00450National Maternity Hospital 834 05/12/2018B00550Commencement of Legislation 836 05/12/2018C00800Seniors Alert Scheme ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������838 05/12/2018G00100Message from Joint Committee 840 05/12/2018G00300Order of Business 841 05/12/2018P01700Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage 859 05/12/2018CC00400Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2018: Second Stage 881 05/12/2018GG00100Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage 886 05/12/2018UU00200Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages 918 SEANAD ÉIREANN Dé Céadaoin, 5 Nollaig 2018 Wednesday, 5 December 2018 Chuaigh an Cathaoirleach i gceannas ar 1030 am Machnamh agus Paidir. Reflection and Prayer. 05/12/2018A00100Business of Seanad 05/12/2018A00200An Cathaoirleach: I have received notice from Senator Máire Devine that, on the motion for the Commencement of the House today, she proposes to raise the following matter: The need for the Minister for Health to outline if the proposed new National Maternity Hospital is to become a subsidiary of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group I have also received notice from Senator Fintan Warfield of the following matter: The need for the Minister for Employment and Social Protection to provide an update on the commencement of Part 9 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 I have also received notice from Senator Victor Boyhan of the following matter: The need for the Minister for Rural and Community Development to provide an update on the seniors alert scheme and to advise if funding will be made available from his Depart- ment for the nationwide roll-out of the scheme I have also received notice from Senator Frank Feighan of the following matter: The need for the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to examine the pos- sibility of purchasing McDermott’s Castle and island on Lough Key, in Boyle, County Roscommon, or entering into a suitable arrangement with the local authority or another agency to preserve this national monument in the long term The matters raised by the Senators are suitable for discussion I have selected Senators Warfield, Devine and Boyhan and they will be taken now. Senator Feighan has withdrawn his matter, which I had also selected 833 Seanad Éireann 05/12/2018A00300Commencement Matters 05/12/2018A00400An Cathaoirleach: I welcome the Minister of State 05/12/2018A00450National Maternity Hospital 05/12/2018A00500Senator Máire Devine: Fáilte arís, an tAire Stait This matter relates to the proposed new facility for the National Maternity Hospital and the lack of progress in recent years on its gov- ernance and ownership I am asking for clarity regarding who will own the hospital or have influence and control over it. There is a lack of clarity and transparency about that, a tactic used frequently by the religious organisation that owns the land on which the new facility is being built The National Maternity Hospital is being built by the State, so we will probably own the bricks The project will cost at least €350 million and the facility will then be handed over to the Sisters of Charity order, which is a subsidiary of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group - a major shareholder in the project The assurances from the religious order that it is giving up owner- ship of its hospitals or removing itself from the boards, and that it will not dictate the parameters of healthcare given to women in these hospitals, are not adequate It is our National Maternity Hospital, it is not the religious order’s hospital We can go through the legacy of cruelty and torture by the religious orders, in collusion with this State, of women and children, and we will not take that any more We have an opportunity to provide what the Sláintecare report recom- mends, namely, universal healthcare without interference from private or vested interests or religious interests The ethos of the nuns disallows in vitro fertilisation, IVF, gender reassignment, abortion and other necessary procedures They took the Minister, who asked the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, to inquire into the death of a 34 year old patient from an ectopic preg- nancy, to court and won HIQA is not allowed investigate that death Despite all the reassur- ances from the religious orders, women do not believe them We had the Uplift petition which yielded almost 120,000 signatures Dr Peter Boylan, a former master of the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, resigned saying he never thought this would happen again following the referendum The Master of the Coombe Hospital resigned in the same vein Fergus Finlay of Barnardos was aghast at what happened in this case Women need to believe that they will be cared for and not judged, like Savita Halappanavar, on the basis of the religious ethos in a hospital That needs to be gone from our healthcare system We have had enough of that 05/12/2018A00600Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Catherine Byrne): I thank Senator Devine I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harris I welcome the opportunity to address the House on this matter The National Maternity Hospital, NMH, was originally established at Holles Street in 1894 The buildings have aged considerably over the years and, understandably, have accrued significant infrastructural prob- lems which have impacted on the ability of the hospital to deliver clinical services It is clear that the current hospital needs to be redeveloped The national maternity strategy reaffirms a commitment by Government to co-locate the remaining stand-alone maternity hospitals with adult acute services in order to provide mothers with access to a full range of medical and support services The availability of these services helps to ensure the delivery of an optimum, safe service, particularly for high risk mothers and 834 5 December 2018 babies Against this background, the Government approved the NMH relocation project, which involves the development of a new maternity hospital on the campus of St Vincent’s University Hospital at Elm Park The new hospital will be funded by the State and is included in Project Ireland 2040 This relocation project came to fruition following extensive mediation discus- sions led by Kieran Mulvey, which resulted in an agreement being reached between the St Vin- cent’s Healthcare Group and the NMH on the relocation of the facility to the Elm Park campus One of the guiding principles of the Mulvey agreement was the requirement for the protection of State investment and interests It is vitally important that the legal and governance arrange- ments associated with this very significant State investment are robust. Considerable work has been undertaken, therefore, to develop a legal framework to protect the State’s significant investment. This legal framework will underpin the operational and clinical independence of the new hospital, ensuring care in the new maternity hospital will be delivered without religious, ethnic or other distinction and any medical procedure which is in accordance with the laws of the land will be carried out there The proposals will require con- sideration by Government, the National Maternity Hospital and the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group before they are finalised. I mentioned at the outset that the model of stand-alone maternity hospitals is not the norm internationally Government policy is therefore to co-locate all remaining maternity hospitals with adult acute services in order to provide optimal clinical outcomes In this context, it is proposed to relocate not only the National Maternity Hospital, but also University Maternity Hospital Limerick to University Hospital Limerick, Dooradoyle; the Rotunda Hospital to the Connolly Hospital campus in Blanchardstown; and the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital to St James’s Hospital 05/12/2018B00200Senator Máire Devine: Unfortunately that was not really an answer in respect of the gov- ernance and the concerns that have been expressed The history of this hospital has been one of chaos, political fallout, and public outcry with regard to governance Essentially it is a Catholic and private hospital There is an idea to compulsorily purchase the land so that it would be truly national - it is called the National Maternity Hospital for a purpose - but it seems politicians are deaf to the concerns of the public they serve One seat at the table for an extra public inter- est member is being proposed The National Children’s Hospital and Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital have granted and signed over the land, building and governance of the new national children’s hospital to the State There will be at least two patients’