Independent TD for Cork South-West, Michael Collins, has slammed what he has described as “fanatical” Church bashing over the deal for the new national maternity hospital.
Speaking in the Dáil earlier this month, the Independent TD said that “unfortunately, critics with fanatical agendas are claiming that a Catholic ethos” would compromise the hospital’s ability to deliver its services.
Speaking to Gript following his comments, Mr Collins said that ‘Church bashing’ has become a “full time agenda” for many in the Dáil.
Mr Collins pointed to “unfounded accusations” against the order and said that TDs and commentators had “wrongly attacked” the Religious Sisters of Charity.
“These claims are false and completely inaccurate as the new hospital will have operational and clinical independence to deliver all services that are permitted in the State,” he told the Dáil in his statement on the national maternity hospital.
In late April, the Religious Sisters of Charity finalised the transfer of shares in the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, meaning their involvement in maternity care has now come to an end, the hospital group said.
It follows years of controversy and criticism of the nuns over the involvement of the order in the new maternity hospital, which is under construction as a co-located hospital with St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin.
Speaking to Gript, the TD said that the nuns should be recognised for “gifting” the hospital to Ireland, and that the good work of the Sisters has been ignored in a concentrated effort to demonise the Catholic Church in Ireland.
“It’s disappointing to hear so much resentment from those in the Dáil who do not have any very good or legitimate reasons for their arguments, and to hear what they say just because they are anti-church. It’s a magnificent, kind, gesture on the nuns’ behalf, and we should be there in the Dail speaking up for the nuns and praising them,” he added.
“They’re a Church bashing gang. That’s their full-time agenda in there, and I’m glad that we’ve called them out for that,” the TD said of many Irish politicians in power who have continued to criticise the nuns, even after the handover.
The TD also voiced his opposition to a non-binding Sinn Féin motion, passed last week in the Dáil, calling on the Government to secure full public ownership of the National Maternity Hospital site.
“I’m glad we called them out and split some of the Green Party,” he said in reference to the Rural Independent Group calling a vote last week which split the Greens in Government.
“The nuns delivered in education for our country; they delivered in healthcare for our country. Some people see nothing but negative on that, but I can assure you that a lot of people have benefited down through the years because of the education and the healthcare the Sisters provided.”
Calling out Sinn Fein’s narrative, he added:
“Did Sinn Fein give any properties to the state? They wouldn’t do it. Everybody holds onto their own property, but they expected the nuns to just hand everything over and run away.
“But what they did is a magnificent gesture and there should be respect for the nuns. We should be talking about the good they’ve done.”
Highlighting the work of the nuns, he also told the Dáil:
“A letter published in the Irish Examiner in November last, from Sr. Patricia Lenihan, the superior general with the Religious Sisters of Charity, outlined in the clearest possible terms the role, or otherwise, played by the order.
“Another letter published in The Irish Times on 4 May written by the chair of St. Vincent’s University Healthcare Group, Mr. James Menton, addressed the outrageous misinformation and disinformation circulating about the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group.
“The letter also addressed the Religious Sisters of Charity issue. It confirmed that they have left the group and have no further involvement in it. The group is an absolutely secular institution.
“The contents of these letters paint a very different picture from those being painted by the people who wish to bash the Catholic Church on this issue. That bashing is all about political point-scoring and is nothing more than trying to use the situation for political gain.”
The TD also said it was also worth noting that the Religious Sisters of Charity had “consistently called on the Minister for Health to speed up the transfer” of St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group to facilitate it as soon as possible,
“The congregation has continuously insisted that it will have no role in the new national maternity hospital to be constructed on the site.
“The congregation withdrew its sisters from the board of St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group in 2007. In 2020, they gifted 29 acres of land of the site of St. Vincent’s Hospital to the State, and 3.2 acres of land to St. Michael’s Hospital in Dún Laoghaire.
“In fact, the sisters have done everything in their power to expedite the transfer to the new independent charity which is St. Vincent’s Hospital Holdings, so that the new hospital could progress. The delays to this project are completely due to the other parties involved, including the Minister, failing to take all actions necessary to facilitate the completion of the transfer as soon as possible.
“The ownership of the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group, which owns the lands, will be transferred to the new independent charity, St. Vincent’s Holdings. The Religious Sisters of Charity have said that they now own only one building on the St. Vincent’s Hospital site, which is and will continue to be leased to the healthcare group, in order to provide income for their continuing work and for the care of their elderly sisters,” he added.
The TD went on to say that Catholic nuns in Ireland have been vilified during the public debate over the national maternity hospital controversy.
“Unfortunately, nuns in Ireland have been stereotyped in Irish public debate to the extent that they have been reduced to the role of villains,” he said.
“Perhaps then it is no coincidence that when the news first emerged that the new national maternity hospital is to be built on a site on the south side of Dublin that is owned by the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group, and for it to be owned by that trust, all hell broke loose simply because the Sisters of Charity own the trust.
“That trust has a 14-person board and two elderly sisters sit on it. The new maternity hospital will replace the current hospital on Holles Street, which is no longer considered fit for purpose.
“After tortuous negotiations between Holles Street and the trust, it was agreed that the new maternity hospital would have full independence although the trust, and therefore the sisters, would own it. I cannot understand.”
He also said that discussion needs to shift to the new children’s hospital, saying that an unnecessary amount of time has been devoted to arguing over the national maternity hospital.
“We should actually be debating the new children’s hospital, including when it will be finished and why it ran over budget, but instead we have spent so much time on something that is quite simply and easily sorted. I put it to the Minister that we must get on with it and go ahead with it. The debating is over. The Sisters of Charity have basically gifted it to the country and we should make use of it,” the TD said.