the scheme. The scheme In 1948 Dr. Noël Browne, a new T.D. for Clann na Poblachta, and a socialist, became Minister for Health in a coalition government. Browne was an admirer of Fianna Fáil's 1947 Health Act and intended to implement its provisions as part of a plan to reduce the alarmingly high rate of child mortality (especially from tuberculosis) in Ireland, modernise the Irish healthcare system and make it free and without means-testing for mothers and their children up to the age of 16. He was impressed with the National Health Service in the United Kingdom and successful medical procedural reforms in Denmark which reduced child mortality. He tackled the domestic health issues and was acclaimed for the results. In July 1950, Browne's department formally submitted the scheme to the Irish Medical Association. The Association had originally opposed the 1947 bill, mentioning the "socialisation of medicine." In this opposition it was supported by at least one member of the coalition cabinet: Fine Gael T.D. Dr. Thomas F. O'Higgins, the Minister for Defence and a former member of the executive of the Irish Medical Association. More important was the opposition of the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, who summoned Browne to his palace and read out a letter to be sent to the Taoiseach, John A. Costello, penned by Dr. James Staunton, Bishop of Ferns, which included the words "...they [the Archbishops and bishops] feel bound by their office to consider whether the proposals are in accordance with Catholic moral teaching," and, "Doctors trained in institutions in which we have no confidence may be appointed as medical officers ... and may give gynaecological care not in accordance with Catholic principles". The letter stated that health provision and physical education for children were solely the "right" of parents and not the State's concern. Archbishop McQuaid was the chairman of some boards of directors of Dublin hospitals. He exercised considerable influence concerning medical appointments and control over the religious orders whose members made up much of the administrative and management staff in hospitals, sanatoria etc. Concerning the term "moral teaching" in the letter to the Taoiseach, Browne received supportive advice - in secret - from Francis Cremin, a Maynooth professor of theology and canon law. Several bishops, McQuaid included, feared that the scheme could pave the way for abortion and birth control. Though some clergy might have been privately sympathetic to