Crowds gather outside Ireland's National Maternity Hospital to call for public and secular control

Hundreds of people have attended a protest rally at the gates of Leinster House, calling for a secular National Maternity Hospital to be built on State land. Campaigner Ailbhe Smyth branded the Government's campaign as a "ridiculous shambles", and she questioned why lands at St Vincent's had not been acquired by compulsory purchase order (CPO) years ago.