Mother and Child Scheme - The Scheme

The Scheme

Noël Browne became Minister for Health in 1948; however he did not immediately introduce the scheme, but rather concentrated on other aspects of reform of healthcare. Even before the introduction of the scheme, there was some disquiet among the Roman Catholic Church and medical profession. Whilst in opposition, Fianna Fáil pushed for the introduction of the scheme.

It is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and unchangeable, that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry.

In 1950, Browne proposed introducing a scheme which would provide maternity care for all mothers and healthcare for children up to the age of sixteen, funded by the taxpayer. It met with ferocious opposition from conservative elements in the Catholic hierarchy and the medical profession. The Catholic Church leadership was divided between those like Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid who believed that it was the exclusive right of all parents to provide healthcare for their child, and younger moderates like William Philbin who saw some merit in state assistance to families. Browne received supportive advice from Francis Cremin, a Maynooth professor of theology and canon law. Some bishops, like McQuaid, also feared that it could pave the way for abortion and birth control. Though some Catholic Church leaders may have been privately sympathetic to Browne and wished to reach an accommodation, what was viewed as Browne's tactless handling of the Catholic Church forced the moderates into silence, allowing the anti-Mother and Child Scheme members of the hierarchy under McQuaid to set the agenda.

Many in the Protestant Church of Ireland community also disagreed with the scheme, the Church of Ireland Gazette saw it as ‘communist’ interference in the family.

Many doctors disapproved of the scheme, some on principle, others because they feared a loss of income and a fear of becoming a kind of civil servant, referring to the plan as "socialised medicine". Browne refused to back down on the issue but received little support even from his Cabinet colleagues, most of whom he had alienated on other matters, notably his failure to attend many cabinet meetings and the lack of support he had shown them in other crises. Isolated in cabinet as a 'loner' who did not consult with his more experienced cabinet colleagues, he also faced the hostility of his own party leader, Sean MacBride, with whom Browne had also fallen out, as he had with most members of the Clann na Poblachta Parliamentary Party, who resented his appointment to cabinet over the heads of more senior colleagues, and who were also offended by his treatment of them.

In April 1951, MacBride demanded Browne's resignation as a Clann na Poblachta minister. Browne duly submitted his resignation to the Taoiseach John A. Costello for submission to President O'Kelly. The resignation took effect from 11 April 1951.

In his resignation statement, Browne told the House:

I had been led to believe that my insistence on the exclusion of a means test had the full support of my colleagues in the Government. I now know that it had not. Furthermore, the Hierarchy has informed the Government that they must regard the mother and child scheme proposed by me as opposed to Catholic social teaching. This decision I, as a Catholic, immediately accepted without hesitation.

In the subsequent Dáil debate on the resignation, Tánaiste and Labour Party leader William Norton claimed:

...if this matter had been handled with tact, with understanding and with forbearance by the Minister responsible, I believe we would not have had the situation which has been brought about to-day.

Dr. Browne explained his approach to the Dáil by saying:

I might say that my question to their Lordships was: Is this contrary to Catholic moral teaching? The reply, as you all know, was that it is contrary to Catholic social teaching. I was not aware — the Taoiseach can verify this — until I had asked each member of the Cabinet separately what he proposed to do, what he had been given to understand by Dr. McQuaid when that decision was taken. He then told us that that morning he had been informed by Dr. McQuaid that Catholic social teaching and Catholic moral teaching were one and the same thing.