Latest: Department of Health 'has no record' of warning from Dr Peter Boylan

LATEST: The Department of Health has denied claims from Dr Peter Boylan that it was warned last year about a possible religious influence on the new National Maternity Hospital.

Latest: Department of Health 'has no record' of warning from Dr Peter Boylan

Update 1.40pm: The Department of Health has denied claims from Dr Peter Boylan that it was warned last year about a possible religious influence on the new National Maternity Hospital.

The former master of Holles Street says the Department was given the warning "some time ago" by the head of the Dublin-based hospital group.

However, the Department of Health says it has no record of any such letter being received.

Update 11.45m: A member of the National Maternity Hospital Board has said that they were not consulted about a request for Dr Peter Boylan to resign.

Dr Boylan, a former Master at Holles Street in Dublin, was asked to step down from his role on the board of the current National Maternity Hospital by deputy chairman Nicholas Kearns via text message on Sunday.

Dr Boylan had objected to plans to give ultimate ownership of a new taxpayer-funded €300m National Maternity Hospital build to the Sisters of Charity religious order.

Sinn Féin Councillor and Board member Micheál MacDonncha said that Dr Boylan should not be asked to resign for expressing an opinion, describing the decision as “regrettable”.

"We were not consulted,” he said.

“I received a phone call yesterday to say that this had happened, that Peter Boylan had been asked to resign.

“And I said immediately, I said that my reaction to that is that that is wrong. That he has been asked to resign because he spoke out.

“He's entitled to his opinion. He's a respected clinician and the idea that he'd be asked to resign because he expressed an opinion is totally wrong."

Micheál MacDonncha
Micheál MacDonncha

Mr MacDonncha said he personally supported the proposal to co-locate the hospital at St Vincent's because, like the rest of the Board, he was very much guided by Dr Rhona Mahony and Nicholas Kearns (the master of Holles St and the deputy chairperson of the NMH board.)

He said there was no question that the hospital was needed, but that the question of governance and ownership needed to be re-examined.

Speaking on Today with Sean O'Rourke, he said that there needs to be good faith on all sides in any agreement and comments made by Bishop Doran over the weekend were very clear and extremely concerning.

He added that he was not sure he would vote the same way if the issue was put to a ballot of the board again.

Sinn Féin health spokesperson Louise O'Reilly said that religious orders should have no part to play in running our hospitals.

“We shouldn’t be having this conversation in 2017 about whether or not, [or] how much involvement the Catholic church has,” she said.

“The answer should be none – that’s it, leave it at that. That’s a nice, round figure – zero, leave it at that.

“We shouldn’t be talking about how much and what degree, that’s not acceptable, and the people of Ireland don’t want that.”

Earlier:

One of the country's leading obstetricians has rejected calls to resign over his opposition to nuns having ultimate ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital.

Dr Peter Boylan, a former Master at Holles Street in Dublin, was asked to step down from his role on the board of the current National Maternity Hospital after speaking out about involvement of the Sisters of Charity.

The order owns the land at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin where the new €300m facility has been planned.

Dr Boylan last week questioned whether clinical care, including abortions or IVF treatment, would be influenced by the nuns' religious beliefs and said it is inappropriate for a hospital to have a strong religious influence, particularly from the Catholic Church.

He said his fears were well founded after Bishop Kevin Doran said that the Sisters would have to obey church law as owners, regardless of how the facility is funded, and that governance rests with the Pope.

Dr Boylan was asked to resign over his intervention by the deputy chair of National Maternity Hospital Judge Nicholas Kearns.

"I don't feel I should resign," the consultant said.

"There's been questions about loyalty to the board - I feel a loyalty to the women of Ireland.

"The function of the National Maternity Hospital is to offer care to the women of Ireland. To believe that by granting ownership of the hospital to the Roman Catholic Church and the company that is tasked with running the hospital to the Roman Catholic Church, to construct a board which four out of nine members would have fundamental objections to a lot of activity going on in that hospital just is not a runner."

Dr Boylan abstained when a vote on the deal with the Sisters of Charity was put to the board of the National Maternity Hospital several months ago.

He said he had raised concerns and planned to raise them further when the arrangement was due to go before the 100 governors of the National Maternity Hospital.

Dr Boylan revealed that he sent a text message to Judge Kearns and the Master of the National Maternity Hospital Holles Street Dr Rhona Mahony urging them to drop the deal and aim for the same design on a site on the adjacent Elm Park Golf Club, to be linked to St Vincent's by tunnels and paths.

"This is 2017 in Ireland. I tried to say to the board many times, look when this gets to the public it's not going to fly and also it's not right that a maternity hospital of all h should be granted to the Catholic Church," Mr Boylan told RTE's Morning Ireland.

The consultant said maybe he should have voted against the deal at the board meeting, despite the deal being passed with overwhelming support.

He also said three previous masters expressed concerns.

The terms of the deal on the new National Maternity Hospital, which was brokered with the Sisters of Charity last November, were supposed to be confidential.

The nuns own the land that it is being built on and it is understood they were not asked to sell the site to the State.

Tens of thousands of people have signed an online petition opposing any role or ownership for the nuns of the new facility.

There will be nine people on the board of the new National Maternity Hospital - four nominated by the St Vincent's Hospital Group which is owned by the Sisters of Charity, four by the current National Maternity Hospital, including the Master, and it will be chaired by an international expert in obstetrics and gynaecology.

A decision on a planning application on the new hospital is due in August or September.

Earlier:

The National Maternity Hospital said in a statement this morning: "The deputy chairman of the National Maternity Hospital Mr Nicholas Kearns has asked Dr Peter Boylan to resign from the Hospital's Board.

"Dr Boylan was a member of the NMH Board at all times during the six-month period of mediation which resulted in the agreement of 21 November 2016 to co-locate the National Maternity Hospital with St Vincent's University Hospital.

"The board was kept fully briefed on all developments by the negotiating team during that period.

"The decisive final meeting of the board overwhelmingly supported the agreement with 25 in favour, two abstentions (including Dr Boylan) and one vote against.

"Thereafter the agreement was approved by Government and planning permission was lodged.

"Last week, some five months after the agreement was approved, Boylan, without warning, consultation with or notification to the board, its chair or the Master of the hospital, went public in attacking the agreement.

"Board members have a duty of loyalty to the board on which they serve and for this reason his resignation has been sought."

Earlier:

Former master of the National Maternity Hospital Dr Peter Boylan has been urged to stand down from the board of the hospital, it has been reported.

Dr Boylan was critical of the proposal to give the Sisters of Charity ownership of the €300m taxpayer-funded hospital, saying that the agreement had not been put to the 100 governors of the current National Maternity Hospital for a decision.

“The structure with the board has not been addressed by the Minister,” he added.

“The board is inherently set up to generate conflict and that needs to be addressed. The hospital needs to be entirely independent.”

It is understood that the request for Dr Boylan to step down was made via text message by deputy chairman Nicholas Kearns last Sunday.

RTÉ has reported that Dr Boylan has not resigned and will attend a board meeting tomorrow night.

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