Editing Mother and Child Scheme (section)

==Background==
Since the establishment of the [[Irish Free State]] in 1922 responsibility in the government for healthcare had lain with the [[Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage|Minister for Local Government and Public Health]]. No significant reform of healthcare occurred in this time and the Catholic Church still retained effective control through the ownership of hospitals and schools, while family doctors still largely practised in isolation of other medical professionals.

The [[Fianna Fáil]] [[Teachta Dála|TD]] [[Seán MacEntee]] started the process of reform as Minister for Local Government & Public Health in 1943. After the [[Second World War]] there was renewed optimism after the depression of the preceding decades. Once [[The Emergency (Ireland)|the Emergency]] was over the political agenda started to shift from [[Irish Civil War]] politics, which had dominated politics, to the domestic agenda and social issues. In particular issues like employment, health and housing came to the fore and this manifested itself in a move away from [[Fianna Fáil]] and [[Fine Gael]].

Regarding healthcare, international trends such as in the [[National Health Service]] of the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe were noticed by the Irish political system. The office of [[Minister for Health (Ireland)|Minister for Health]] was created as a separate "Minister of the Government" by the 1946 Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act;<ref>[http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1946_38.html Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1946] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051130113234/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1946_38.html |date=30 November 2005 }}</ref> this act also created the [[Minister for Social Protection|Minister for Social Welfare]]. Problems such as high infant mortality rates led to an increase in support for health reform{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}. The Fianna Fáil government published a much delayed [[White Paper]] in 1947. This paper was followed by the 1947 Health Act,<ref>[http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1947_28.html Health Act, 1947] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051128142738/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1947_28.html |date=28 November 2005 }}</ref> in which the scheme was provided for in Part III of the act. President [[Seán T. O'Kelly|O'Kelly]] convened a meeting of the [[Council of State (Ireland)|Council of State]] to consider whether Part III should be referred to the [[Supreme Court (Ireland)|Supreme Court]], but he decided against doing so.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kelly |title=The Irish Constitution |last2=Hogan |last3=Whyte |date=2003 |publisher=LexisNexis Butterworth |edition=4th |page=§4.5.110 |no-pp=y}}</ref> However, the [[1948 Irish general election|1948 general election]] resulted in the surprise fall of Fianna Fáil from government and instead the [[First Inter-Party Government]] would be left with the responsibility of implementing the scheme.