The former master of Holles Street hospital, Dr Peter Boylan, has announced his resignation from the hospital board, following the controversy over the new National Maternity Hospital.
The move follows calls for Dr Boylan to quit the board, after publicly criticising the decision to move the new hospital to the St Vincent’s campus, and to give ownership to the religious order, the Sisters of Charity.
While Dr Boylan had initially remained defiant to the calls for resignation, he confirmed his actions this morning in a statement, issued to Newstalk.
The statement, read out on the Pat Kenny Show, reads: “I can no longer remain a member of a board which is so blind to the consequences of its decision to transfer sole ownership of the hospital to the Religious Sisters of Charity, and so deaf to the disquiet of the public it serves.”
EXCLUSIVE: Read Dr Peter Boylan's resignation letter in full: https://t.co/wKESpL39DB pic.twitter.com/VZNdubwf5f
— Newstalk (@NewstalkFM) April 27, 2017
“Hospitals on land owned by the Catholic Church are obliged to follow Catholic teaching and Canon Law on medical practices and procedures…To believe that 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.”
He also revealed that the Department of Health had been warned ‘some time ago’ that there would be issues over the development plan and ownership agreement, in terms of both ethics and ethos.
Dr Boylan’s is the popular opinion, with close to 100,000 people signing a petition calling for ownership of the new hospital not to be given to the religious order.
One of the main issues at play is that the order has still not paid its full share of redress to the survivors of institutional abuse.
Thank you to @FinBreatnach for all his efforts. It would have been so much easier for him to have said "not my problem". @ConnollyForKids
— Maïa Dunphy (@MaiaDunphy) April 27, 2017
The proposed location of the hospital has split opinion since the very beginning, with a large proportion of the public calling for the hospital to be built on the Connolly campus.
In response to the latest controversy, Connolly for Kids Hospital has confirmed that they have ‘sought legal opinions on options open to them to challenge the decision and have sent a holding letter to the parties involved.’
The organisation described the official awarding of the Construction Contract as a ‘shameful decision’.
“A truly world-class hospital can be built at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown FASTER and at a saving of at least €150 million of taxpayers’ money. That hospital would also have the critical immediate maternity co-location,” reads a damning statement from the organisation.
We will keep you updated as the story develops.
