THE MASTER OF the Rotunda Hospital said it should remain at its current site in north Dublin and be allowed to develop further, after a €100m critical care unit had its planning overturned.

The Journal reported this week that the new building, which had been granted permission, was to include 80 additional hospital rooms and a new operating theatre.

Its planning was overturned after a small number of objections raised concerns the unit would not protect the architectural design of Parnell Square.

Professor Sean Daly, the Master of the Rotunda Hospital, this afternoon told RTE’s This Week programme he had written to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill last year and expressed significant concern regarding the planning application process for the unit.

Last year, the Rotunda accommodated 36% of all babies transferred into Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Units, which care for critically ill, extremely premature, or low-birth-weight newborns.

“We are in the same planning structure as somebody who is looking to build a hotel. That doesn’t seem reasonable,” Daly said.

He further said it is his understanding the planning decision was made by three people who did not appreciate the clinical reasoning behind the unit.

On the objections to the building on architectural grounds, Daly said: “Bartholomew Mosse built the Rotunda Hospital to care for the poor people of Dublin, the poor women of Dublin. And this was always a hospital site. It was never anything other than a hospital site.

“We absolutely need this four-storey building, and the fact that it’s on the west side of Parnell Square is because it’s adjacent to the current clinical building.”

Conservation groups including the Dublin Civic Trust and An Taisce argued that the new wing would damage the 18th century city-centre square and the long-term prospects for regeneration once the hospital eventually moved to Blanchardstown under long-term plans. 

In 2015, Government announced that it would be putting in place a plan and timeline for the Rotunda to relocate to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown. Asked about this plan today, Daly said he doesn’t foresee that move going ahead and emphasised the maternity hospital’s links to the nearby Mater Hospital.

“I don’t believe it will ever happen,” he said.

“No woman has died in the Rotunda in 20 years. So we have very close associations with the Mater – they are a level four hospital. They support us incredibly, and because of that, I think we are looking to develop even closer links to the Mater Hospital.

“I believe the Rotunda should stay where it is. The Rotunda is an essential part of Dublin’s north inner city.

“We employ almost 1200 people, so we are an essential anchor in north Dublin. I believe we should stay there, and we should be allowed to develop on our site.”

On the same programme, before Daly’s interview, Tánaiste Simon Harris said of the planning being overturned: “I’m beyond disappointed, I’m kind of angry in relation to this.

“I think that’s the Government’s overall sense too, because let’s not talk about this in an abstract: this is about premature babies. It’s about them and their mums, and it’s about providing them with infrastructure.

“And while yes, there are longer term plans, of course there are in relation to co-location of maternity hospitals, and that’s long-standing. We cannot have a situation where there’s clinical risk today.”

He said Government is working alongside the Rotunda to look at potential options, and said that organisations, such as the Dublin Civic Trust, shouldn’t feel they have to lodge objections to planning applications “just because they have a right to”.

“There are some things called the public good.”

Speaking to The Journal earlier this week, Carroll MacNeill said she is “deeply disappointed that this important development for premature and critically unwell babies” was refused.

“Health infrastructure is essential for our community.

“Jack Chambers and I are working on every possible route to simplify the delivery of the healthcare facilities our people so badly need in their moments of vulnerability.”