AIMS IrelandPRESS CONFERENCE 28/04/2017
#notonourwatch #aimsireland
Maternity service users, as taxpayers, demand facts on religious veto at new National Maternity Hospital
AIMS Ireland seeks clarity from government on position of future church/state projects
Maternity service users in Ireland today demand that the full facts about the future of the National Maternity Hospital be given to the people. AIMS Ireland calls on the Religious Sisters of Charity to detail exactly what will and won’t be possible at the hospital. AIMSI also calls on the government to clarify the position on future church/state partnerships it intends to use public money to fund.
“We want definitive answers to the following questions from the owners; the Religious Sisters of Charity” said Chair Krysia Lynch, “If the 8th is repealed and abortion legalised, will this medical procedure be carried out on the Elm Park site? If a woman wishes to have a medical sterilization through choice, can that procedure be carried out on the Elm Park site under the current agreement? Will IVF and other advanced medical fertilization therapies take place on the site under the current agreement? In short, what will and will not be vetoed at this hospital. Until the Minister has these answers, from the “owners” of the hospital themselves, he cannot be expected to put a cent of public money towards funding it.”
“The sisters of charity can take ‘the heat’ out of the current situation very quickly and easily by giving definitive answers to these questions, by publishing the ethos they are duty bound to impose on the new national maternity hospital. If there is nothing to hide there should be no issue in making a statement” added the AIMSI Chair. “Once the service users have cast iron reassurance from the owners of the proposed hospital themselves, they can support this badly needed hospital move.”
“We are calling on the public to seek these answers from the Sisters of Charity, via sistersofcharity.ie, so we can all know exactly what we are paying for. Service users are not convinced by the assurances thus far given. Until there is clarity, we will shout, we will march and we will call for a National Maternity Hospital that is independent, secular and based on an ethos of best practice, evidence based care. Absolutely nothing else will do the people of Ireland in 2017”
continued Krysia Lynch.
The public need to be clear on the continuing church/state partnerships into the future. It is one thing to have to accept that current institutions exist historically, it is quite another to invest public money into a 21st century church/state partnership. In light of the “blurred lines” involved in this situation with the National Maternity Hospital, we ask the state to clarify the future position on such matters. If the people are to part fund church/state partnerships, this needs to be a decision made by the people.
For the past 10 years, AIMS Ireland have been representing the maternity service users in Ireland. Aims Ireland is a voluntary, consumer led organisation which acts as a voice for those engaging with our maternity services. In the past 2 weeks we have received an unprecedented number of communications about the situation with the National Maternity Hospital. We will not be silenced.
Press Conference: Friday April 28th 2017 12.00noon, Buswells