The Government has abandoned plans to relocate the Rotunda Hospital to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown and will instead back a new expansion of maternity services at its historic Parnell Square site.
A fresh planning application is now set to be submitted following talks between Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, the Department of Health, the Rotunda and the HSE.
The minister said her intention is to focus on the future of The Rotunda on its current site, while noting that it remains open to a future Government to take a different approach.
The new application will involve expanded critical care capacity for women, building on the earlier proposal which focused primarily on infants.
It will also include an enhanced Sexual Assault Treatment Unit.
Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (pictured above) said enhancing critical care facilities on the Rotunda campus will differentiate the hospital from the 2015 policy to co-locate with Connolly Hospital, because the full benefits of co-location can be achieved through close proximity and the already established pathways to the Mater Hospital.
She said she hopes the new Rotunda planning application will be the first to be designated as critical infrastructure under planned Government legislation expected before the summer.
The fresh submission comes after An Coimisiún Pleanála last month overturned a decision to approve the proposed €100 million four-storey critical care wing at the Rotunda Hospital.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation welcomed the decision to submit new planning proposals, including additional high dependency capacity for mothers and babies and an enhanced sexual assault treatment unit.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha (pictured above) said: “The original decision to overturn planning permission for an expansion to services at the Rotunda was incredibly disappointing for our members in the Rotunda.”
She added: “It is obvious that any expansion to current facilities, especially high dependency units must be delivered on the hospital campus where the quick access to theatre, anaesthetists and other specialisms is available.”
Ní Sheaghdha said the decision to submit a new proposal that expands midwife and nurse provided care is welcome and said expanding high dependency neonatal and woman centred care will allow staff to expand their practice and continue to provide care “to the women of Dublin and beyond”.
Dublin Lord Mayor Councillor Ray McAdam said the Minister for Justice must support the planning application for an enhanced Sexual Assault Treatment Unit and said the Rotunda should remain and be redeveloped in the city centre.“
“The Rotunda Hospital is an iconic institution in the heart of Dublin, it is vital that it stays and is redeveloped in the city centre,” he said.
McAdam said the hospital is one of the busiest maternity hospitals in Europe and provides essential care for women and babies right across Dublin.
He said the expansion should include greater Neonatal Intensive Care Unit capacity, single room beds and a new theatre, and said the revised planning application should be submitted as soon as possible so critical care can be delivered in the city centre.
He said an enhanced sexual assault unit will continue to provide care for all at this site, describing it as critical for a growing Dublin city.
McAdam added: “We all know the high quality of the work carried out in the Rotunda, where critically ill babies receive specialist care. We want to see staff have access to the facilities for them to carry out their work.
Labour’s Health spokesperson and Dublin Central TD Marie Sherlock said she had raised the matter with the Taoiseach in the Dáil this week and said “brinkmanship when it comes to maternity care is no way to do business.”
She said: “Clarity at last this evening, but lessons must be learned from this debacle. Time is being lost on developing this vital critical care unit for premature and very sick babies because of how this was all handled.”
Sherlock called for urgent action on the delivery of a critical care wing without delay.
She said the Rotunda is the busiest maternity hospital in Ireland and one of the busiest in Europe, delivering more than 8,000 babies in 2024.
“The Minister for Health has, on a number of occasions, failed to provide any written confirmation on the future of the Rotunda and Connolly co-location,” she said.
“Indeed the ambiguous statements contained within written answers by the Minister and by her officials last week are alarming and give rise to very significant concern that any future planning application may be rejected on the same grounds.
“It is utterly unacceptable that the Rotunda would have to issue a fresh planning application with the same uncertainty about its location hanging over it.
“Furthermore, it is unconscionable that one arm of the State would feel forced to initiate judicial review proceedings against another arm of the State and in the process, incur a cost for the taxpayer running to hundreds of thousands of euro.”
Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick also welcomed the decision by Government to back the Rotunda Hospital by submitting a new application.
She said the new application will include expanded critical care capacity for women and an enhanced sexual assault treatment unit, with the intention of strengthening the already established critical care pathways between the Rotunda and the Mater by providing new critical care capacity on site.
“I warmly welcome Government’s decision to back the Rotunda and support retaining and developing it on Parnell Square,” Fitzpatrick said.
“The Rotunda will deliver its one millionth baby this year, a testament to the critical care it provides women and their family on their pregnancy journey.
“As part of the new planning application, the Master will submit a new planning application with the two new elements to it.
“I welcome further enhancement of critical care for women and children provided through the expansion of that care as part of that application and an enhanced sexual assault treatment unit.
“I would call for objectors to original proposal to refrain from objecting to new application and allow this expansion to proceed.”