Pressure mounts over National Hospital ownership

Pressure’s mounting on the Minister for Health over his handling of the ownership of the new national maternity hospital.

Over 86,000 people have signed a petition calling on Simon Harris to prevent the Sisters of Charity from taking ownership of the facility.

It comes as the Sunday Independent claims legal guarantees have been enshrined in the deal to protect the ethos of the hospital once it moves to the St Vincent’s site in Dublin.

According to the newspaper Kieran Mulvey who negotiated the agreement says the situation risk quickly turning into the same situation as the decade’s long wait for a National Children’s Hospital.

However Siobhan O’Donoghue of campaign group UpLift says the public won’t stand for a religious order owning the facility.