In May, Minister for Health James Reilly announced the relocation of the country’s National Maternity Hospital from Holles Street to the Elm Park campus in Dublin 4. The move is expected to be completed by 2018 to a site close to St Vincent’s University Hospital and is seen as a welcome move by the Holles Street staff and the public in general.
Since 1894, the building at Holles Street has housed the maternity hospital, which delivers an estimated 9,500 new babies each year and is now becoming increasingly dilapidated. The approximate €150 million investment into the new Dublin 4 site is expected to boost employment in the region. Part of the new building will include a parent respite accommodation wing, a facility which is sadly lacking at the current Dublin 2 building. Also in recent years, redevelopments at the Elm Park campus have included a multi-storey car parking facility which can be extended to cater for a greater expected traffic, facilitating the new hospital.
By Eric Murphy
