The Labour Party spokeswoman on health and children, Ms Liz McManus, has urged Cardinal Desmond Connell to resign as chairman of the committee of management at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin. "If he was a politician he would be asked to step aside," she said.
Meanwhile Dr Tom O'Dowd, professor of general practice at Trinity College Dublin and a general practitioner at Jobstown in west Tallaght, has also called on Cardinal Connell to resign from the post. His remaining on "was not fair to the staff", he said, and "sent extremely wrong signals".
Both based their stance on a perception of the Cardinal's handling of Ms Marie Collins's complaint in 1995 about being sexually abused in 1960 by Father Paul McGennis when she was a patient at Our Lady's Hospital. She was 13.
The priest was a chaplain there at the time. In 1968 so too was another priest of the Dublin archdiocese, Father Ivan Payne. Both he and McGennis were jailed subsequently for the sexual abuse of children.
Prof O'Dowd said the Cardinal had been "very tardy" in his treatment of Ms Collins and his remaining as chairman of the hospital's committee of management was "not fair to my patients referred there".
He felt the Cardinal suffered a conflict of interest in retaining the position and he "wouldn't like the hospital to suffer or to be brought into disrepute as an institution".
Ms McManus asked whether it was appropriate the cardinal should stay on in the post "considering the circumstances surrounding Marie Collins".
Both also expressed concern about the effect of the Cardinal remaining on in the post may have on the hospital's chances of securing the new national high-tech paediatric unit, of which there will be just one in the State.
This "tertiary" unit will be based in one of Dublin's leading paediatric hospitals and it is understood Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin has been a front-runner.
Apart from "the abuser reason", Ms McManus also queried the appropriateness of concentrating such a national service in a denominationally run hospital, whatever the denomination.
She remarked on the "very hierarchical" structures of such hospitals "which are not very accountable to the public". She instanced recent events at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda as an example.
In her view, there was a need for a hospital ombudsman to oversee such difficulties. The health service and its components should reflect the diversity of society, she said, "and diversity of ownership helps" towards that.
If there was centralisation of a service in a denominationally run hospital, "how do you ensure diversity and accountability are respected?" she asked.
Dublin City councillor Mr Eric Byrne, who is one of just two councillors on Our Lady's Committee of Management, stopped short of calling for Cardinal Connell's resignation as chairman, though he did believe there was "a very strong case against the Cardinal for his handling of the case".
He noted however that Ms Collins had exonerated the hospital itself from all blame.
He pointed out that the Cardinal was chairman in a formal sense and attended meetings of the committee of management just once a year, for its annual general meeting.
Otherwise the former Dublin City Manager, Mr Frank Feeley chaired the meetings, as he did meetings of its ethics, and finance and general purposes committees.
