Series 02: Alan Gibson Stewart papers, 1987-1989 - Page 539
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a9292542.html
258
was oeprated by a salaried staff but still controlled by a handful of remaining nuns.
Our Minister for Health was Kevin Stewart, one of the most prominent Irish Catholics in caucus. It was his duty to close the Mater by withdrawing its funding. However, the nuns had Irish blood in their veins also, and they were not going to give up without a fight.
They had powerful friends. Many prominent medical specialists used the Mater as a part of their lucrative practices. The Catholic establishment on the North Shore regarded it as a religious haven in a secular world, where they could receive compassionate care according to the moral strictures of the Church.
Meers jumped to the Mater's defence, claiming that: "Hospitals are a vital requirement of our community... the Government cannot just close them down for cheap political purposes at the xpense of patients, doctors and nurses."
Presiding over the faithful of the North Shore was His Lordship Bishop Thomas Muldoon, one of the most reactionary members of the Catholic Heirarchy, a redfaced Irishman who could roar at his flock to instil the fear of hellfire. I had witnessed some of his performances as an impressionable schoolboy when he had visited us at St Aloysius College. He now stepped into the fray to defend the good nuns against the heartless Government.
Although the Mater was not in my electorate, their
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