Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Holly Cairns (SD), Cork South-West

One in six babies in this State is born in the Rotunda. It is the busiest maternity hospital in the country by some distance and it is also the oldest maternity hospital in the world, and in many ways it feels like it. I was there yesterday to speak to the team after the devastating news that the planning permission for their long-awaited and desperately needed extension had been overturned. On Friday, as the news filtered through the hospital corridors, staff were in shock. One told me they burst into tears. They literally could not believe it because they could not comprehend how anyone could walk into that neonatal intensive care unit and deny that those babies needed more space.
I visited the neonatal intensive care unit yesterday to see the conditions myself. It is not a large room and it is stuffed full of equipment that overflows into the surrounding corridors. Right now there are seven babies in incubators in that room. Their machines are practically on top of each other and their mothers and nurses are squeezed into the spaces in between. One mum with her tiny, gorgeous baby on her chest was afraid to lean too far back in her chair in case she hit another incubator. There is no privacy, no dignity and no proper protection from hospital-acquired infections. There is about a meter between each incubator, to fit parents, nurses and equipment.
The team in the Rotunda hoped that would change when a critical care extension was built onto the hospital. That extension would have included a 20-bed neonatal intensive care unit and a 25-bed special care baby unit, as well as new labour and postnatal wards and 80 additional hospital bedrooms - a game-changer for the care of women and babies. Unbelievably, however, planning permission for this extension was revoked by An Coimisiún Pleanála. An appeals board said the extension did not represent an overwhelming public benefit "sufficient to justify the degree of heritage harm identified". On what planet is the treatment of premature babies not an overwhelming public benefit? The mind boggles.
The absurdity of that decision makes at least some sense when we realise that An Coimisiún Pleanála partially based this decision on Government policy to co-locate the Rotunda with Connolly Hospital. Listening to the Minister for Health this morning and visiting the hospital yesterday, it is clear that is not the case any more. This decision, as well as being completely mad, it is partially based on outdated information. We all agree that co-location is best practice for any maternity hospital, but it is abundantly clear to everyone that the Rotunda is not going to be co-located with Connolly. It already works alongside the Mater and that relationship should be formalised in the upcoming national maternity strategy.
Will the Taoiseach now confirm that plans to co-locate the Rotunda with Connolly Hospital will not go ahead? Will he explain why this announcement was not made before the planning decision was made? What is the Government going to do now to get this urgent project over the line and how will it do that quickly?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17