The stark headline in today’s The Irish Times is: “Dublin’s northside needs a maternity hospital that is fit for purpose”. It is a piece written by Chris Fitzpatrick, who is eminently qualified to speak about maternity services across Dublin, having worked in all three Dublin maternity hospitals. The Rotunda is delivering thousands more babies than any other hospital in the State but its plans for redevelopment have stalled. Professor Sean Daly, the master of the Rotunda, recently spoke about the severe overcrowding in the maternity hospital itself, with women in labour regularly being sent outside Dublin, so not even to one of the other Dublin maternity hospitals. Women in labour are being transferred as far away as Drogheda. This is completely unacceptable.

The ageing infrastructure and severe lack of space are impacting women on the northside of Dublin. The hospital is coping with increasingly complex cases where more complex care is needed. The Dublin and north-east region, in which the Rotunda operates as the lead maternity hospital, has the largest regional population, with just under 1.2 million people. The population of this region is increasing at a higher rate than any other region in Ireland. Towns like Balbriggan, Rush, Lusk, Skerries, Donabate and Swords are increasing in population rapidly. This is a young population, with strong demand for maternity services. These people are being failed by the completely inadequate facilities at the Rotunda. The region also has a number of areas suffering from extreme deprivation. Some of the areas with the highest levels of deprivation in the country are within this region. It is also extremely ethnically diverse, which brings its own problems around extra supports needed for those women when they are expecting their babies.

The hospital should be redeveloped at its current location. It can then form part of an expanded medical campus along with the Mater hospital. The metro is coming to the northside of Dublin after a lot of delays and waiting and the Rotunda hospital is ideally located. There are plans for more than 6,000 homes in the Cabra, Glasnevin and Finglas area. North County Dublin is absorbing the housing needs not only of the city, but of Ireland. Thousands of houses are being developed in Balbriggan, Rush, Lusk, Skerries, Swords, Donabate and beyond. This year, the Rotunda hospital will celebrate the delivery of its one millionth baby. With that celebration, I think that the Minister for Health should give a real commitment to the women of the northside of Dublin and put some firm plans in train for the redevelopment of the Rotunda hospital on its current site.