Sir, – The recent announcement that the National Maternity Hospital is to be re-located to the St Vincent’s Hospital site is very welcome news for future generations of Dublin mothers.
There are three other large standalone maternity hospitals that also need relocation to general hospital sites. These three, the Coombe, the Rotunda and Limerick, deliver about one third of the country’s babies.
The money for these important projects could be raised in a variety of ways.
For example, €100 million in capital for the Limerick project equates to about €10 per annum for 26 years for each of the 378,000 citizens of the Mid-West region. If that were to be collected through the progressive Local Property Tax system, it would represent an additional 10 per cent of that tax. In the US, this method is used to build schools, hospitals, bridges, etc, in some states. Citizens vote to approve the project (or not) at local election time.
Another method would be to raise the money through a new offering of the National Solidarity Bonds, which could be promoted as Mother and Baby Bonds. I imagine they would be popular.
Or a combination of methods could be used.
It is difficult to think of a more worthwhile investment. – Yours, etc,
Dr GERRY BURKE,
Department of Obstetrics
and Gynaecology,
Graduate Entry Medical
School, University of
Limerick,
Limerick.