THE GOVERNMENT HAS abandoned plans to relocate the Rotunda Hospital to Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown. 

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill confirmed the news following a meeting with the hospital, the HSE and Department officials.

She said a new planning application will be submitted by the Rotunda, which will include the planned critical care unit for infants at its Dublin city centre site. 

The new planning application will also include critical care capacity for women, as well as enhanced Sexual Assault Treatment Unit. 

It comes after a new €100m critical care unit for the maternity hospital was denied planning permission by An Coimisiún Pleanála last month after a small number of objections raised concerns the unit would not protect the architectural design of Parnell Square.

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.

There was significant backlash to the decision to refuse planning permission, with Carroll MacNeill saying she was “deeply disappointed” at the time. 

This evening, she said it is her intention “to focus on the future of the Rotunda on the current site”. 

“The intention is to augment the already well-established critical care pathways between the Rotunda Hospital and the Mater Hospital by having new critical care capacity on site at the Rotunda,” she said.

“It is also important to recognise the site as an integral part of Dublin city centre, specifically for women, in all their needs.”

The Fine Gael TD said enhancing critical care facilities on the Rotunda site will differentiate the hospital from the previous policy to co-locate the hospital to Connolly “because the full benefits of co-location can be achieved by the close proximity, the already established pathways to the Mater and the further strengthening with additional components of the application”.

She said she made the decision after engaging with the clinical leadership team for the region, which includes Connolly Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, the Mater Misericordiae Hospital and the Rotunda Hospital.

‘Pragmatic approach’

Professor Sean Daly, Master of the Rotunda, said he was “very grateful” for Carroll MacNeill’s continued support of the hospital. 

“The plans we discussed today will not only significantly improve the critical care infrastructure at the Rotunda but will also make it an enhanced centre of care for families at the heart of our city,” he said.

“This is a pragmatic approach to the future of the site and to the future of care for the women and babies.”

Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane welcomed the decision to keep the hospital in Dublin city centre, calling it “long overdue”. 

“It was clear from the Oireachtas Health Committee last week that, despite this plan being 11 years old, not a cent had been spent and there was still no date for a move,” he said. 

“In truth, the Minister has abandoned a plan that never got off the ground in the first place. It was another promise from successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments that was not worth the paper it was written on and in truth it should have been scrapped years ago.”

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Cullinane said the new and enhanced planning application must be submitted “without delay”.

“The Rotunda must now finally get the backing it deserves. This means certainty, funding and a clear timeline to deliver the services, capacity and modern facilities that patients and staff have been waiting far too long for.”

Labour’s health spokesperson Marie Sherlock said time to develop the critical care unit for premature and sick babies was being lost “because of how this was all handled”. 

“The Rotunda Hospital is the busiest maternity hospital in Ireland and one of the busiest in Europe, delivering more than 8,000 babies in 2024. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil can’t keep kicking women’s healthcare down the line,” she said.

“There are babies being born now in sub-par conditions, women receiving good news and bad news in standards that are just not acceptable.”

Green Party councillor Janet Horner, who is also a board member of the hospital, also welcomed the decision. 

“Women deserve quality healthcare, in a hospital that is up to the highest standards. A new planning application must be submitted as soon as possible for the critical care unit expansion, so that mothers and newborn babies can receive the care they deserve in an appropriate, fit for purpose setting.”