Confirmation around co-location of Rotunda is welcome, Prof Sean Daly says
Vivienne Clarke
The Master of the Rotunda Sean Daly has welcomed confirmation by the Minister for Health that the city centre maternity hospital will not be co-located with Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Prof Daly said that the 2015 plan to co-locate the Rotunda and Connolly hospitals had been “a huge issue”.
“Everything has changed now since the new reorganisation of the health services and we are now in the same integrated health area as the Mater and it has always made sense for us to have close clinical links with the Mater.
With regard to concerns about the conservation of the Parnell Square area, Prof Daly said the original 18th-century site, which was part of a legacy from Bartholomew Moss, was always going to be a hospital site. That legacy had always been intended to look after the poor people of Dublin.
The Rotunda was an iconic part of the city of Dublin, he said.
The new planning application would not be the same as the plan most recently rejected by An Coimisiún Pleanála, nor would it be larger.
“We won't submit the same one again. We'll work closely with our design team, and we're very conscious of the fact that conservation concerns were an issue. I do think that Dublin City Council were very conscious of this too," Prof Daly said.
"They asked when we submitted the original planning back in December 2024, they requested changes to be incorporated into the building to make it more like the west side of Parnell Square, and that was actually done.
“But I do think that we will look at all options here.”
Prof. Daly said that one of the design aspects they will be reconsidering is “a lot of plant” on the building's roof.
“We may be able to relocate plant to a different part of the building if that's required. But I suppose what I really would not wish to do is to submit a planning application for a building that doesn't fulfil our clinical requirements and those are to ensure that we have 21st-century facilities to care for some of the most vulnerable women in the country.”
Prof Daly also acknowledged that the location of the Rotunda hospital’s sexual assault unit, which had been the first in Europe when established 40 years ago, will need to be examined and might not form part of the new building.
