Sir, – I recently took a tour of the Henrietta Street Museum in Dublin 1. On the first floor there is a beautiful four-poster bed. It apparently belonged to Bartholomew Mosse, the surgeon who founded the Rotunda ‘lying-in hospital’.
Mosse died at the age 47, exhausted by years of fundraising and lobbying for money to build the hospital. In his time many of the women of Dublin had no access to a bed, never mind a safe place the deliver their babies. Our tour guide bemoaned the fact that none of the energetic individuals, most of them women, who worked to fund and set up Dublin city’s hospitals are remembered. No statues, no street names, no gardens of remembrance.
Remarkably, our guide also informed us that the Rotunda’s wards were originally furnished with four-poster beds. Modern midwifery has come a long way from joys of birthing in a four-poster bed. Times change, and surely architecture needs to be allowed to change, so the Rotunda, whose founder worked so hard get built in the first place, can continue to serve our citizens. – Yours, etc,
TRINA MILNER,
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Dún Laoghaire,
Dublin.
Sir, – There is no disagreement about either the wonderful work done at the Rotunda Hospital under trying conditions or the need for additional facilities. However, for the record, An Coimisiún Pleanála did not refuse permission to expand the maternity services currently provided by the Rotunda Hospital.
It rejected a planning application whose implementation would “be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”. For those interested the Commission’s reasoning is available in its determination of February 10th last (ref ACP 323482 – 25) where it lays out the parameters which it must consider in what, whether we like it or not, is a planning matter.
The Rotunda’s board and its advisers, the Department of Health and Dublin City Council would have been aware for several years of the hospital’s operational difficulties. So too would they have been aware of the constraints faced by the commission in considering such a planning application. One must ask why they persisted with their flawed plan. The commission is now a reformed public body which, as we hoped, is independently exercising its functions in accordance with laid-down planning and zoning laws.
Finally, it was sad to see some commentators using the run-down state of Parnell Square as a justification for the development. Surely this reflects a lack of pride in our city and re-emphasises the need for proper planning and enforcement. – Yours, etc,
JOHN M MOLLOY
Sandyford,
Dublin 16.
