The Minister for Health must explain why she did not intervene sooner and publicly state that plans to locate the Rotunda Hospital with Connolly in Blanchardstown had effectively been abandoned by the government, according to Social Democrats TD P\u00e1draig Rice.<\/p>\n
Deputy Rice, who is the party\u2019s health spokesperson, made his comments after An Comisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la overturned a decision by Dublin City Council to grant planning permission for a \u20ac100 million critical care wing at the Rotunda.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of the reason for this extremely disappointing decision was the commission\u2019s understanding that it was government policy to co-locate the Rotunda with Connolly Hospital \u2013 a plan that has been gathering dust since its inclusion in the 2016 National Maternity Strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, on RT\u00c9 radio this morning, the Minister for Health conceded that it was difficult to see such a move happening in the short-term.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did the Minister not intervene sooner to make it clear that the co-location plan was no longer being advanced by the government? Coming out with this admission now \u2013 after the plan for this vital 80-bed unit has been refused \u2013 is too late.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2016-2021 Infrastructure and Capital Investment Plan said the Rotunda would move to Connolly in the latter years of the plan. But there was no mention of it in the 2025 Sectoral Investment Plan for Health, which suggested that it had been quietly dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the current National Maternity Strategy, which does not run out until the end of this year, still states that the relocation of the Rotunda Hospital to the Connolly Hospital campus in Blanchardstown is planned. Even for the move to take place, Connolly would need to be upgraded to a model 4 hospital \u2013 something that has not happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the absence of any real progress on co-location, the Rotunda understandably took matters into its own hands and sought to expand on the existing site.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes sense on so many levels. The Rotunda has a long-established link with the nearby Mater Hospital and the proposed critical care wing is desperately needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit rich for the Minister and other members of government to be coming out now to express disappointment at An Comisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la\u2019s decision when they could have intervened sooner and admitted that the Connolly option had been quietly dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n
February 17, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Minister for Health must explain why she did not intervene sooner and publicly state that plans to locate the Rotunda Hospital with Connolly in Blanchardstown had effectively been abandoned by the government, according to Social Democrats TD P\u00e1draig Rice. Deputy Rice, who is the party\u2019s health spokesperson, made his comments after An Comisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,807,642,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-maternity","category-padraig-rice","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n