Galway TDs urged to safeguard Portiuncula Hospital funding in upcoming health budget
Galway County Councillors are calling on Oireachtas members for Galway East, Galway West, and Galway Roscommon to ensure adequate funding remains in place for the restoration of maternity services at Portiuncula Hospital (PUH) in the forthcoming health budget process.
The motion, which passed unanimously at a September County council meeting, urged Galway representatives to “demonstrate this commitment” through statements, lobbying, and parliamentary actions.
“The Council’s motion is about putting down a clear marker: no more vague reassurances, no more policy drift,” Councillor Evelyn Parsons told the Irish Independent. “Our local TDs and Senators now have to show, through lobbying, parliamentary action, and their votes, that they will stand up for the women, babies, and families of East Galway and South Roscommon. Anything less risks letting Portiuncula slide further into decline.”
A recent response from the health minister to Galway County Council led councillors to believe long-term preparations at University Hospital Galway (UHG) were being made for diverted maternity patients of Portiuncula Hospital (PUH).
The response stated information that has already circulated but made brief mention of improvements at UHG.
It read: “This work will therefore continue to progress over the coming months, with close monitoring and engagement within both the HSE and the Department of Health. This includes ensuring sufficient capacity and resources are in place across the HSE West and North-West region.”
“A plan is in development to create a Level 4 campus at Galway University Hospital, focusing on several key developments, including improvements to the maternity unit.”
Councillors found concern with the reference to the new maternity development as part of UHG masterplan which “does confirm is a direction of travel” to “centralisation in Galway”, Cllr Parsons told the Irish Independent.
“This is precisely why we need explicit, ring-fenced funding for PUH in the 2026 Health Budget. Without it, there’s a real danger of incremental downgrading — not just of maternity services, but of the hospital’s sustainability as a whole.”
“The real concern is that if resources are being funnelled into UHG then hospitals like Portiuncula are at risk of being starved of investment,” Cllr Parsons added. “Under the Saolta Hospital Group structure, budgets are allocated on a group-wide basis, so when one hospital gets the lion’s share, the others inevitably feel the squeeze.”
Cllr Parsons is a medical doctor and GP who stands on the fact that no “robust medical evidence” has been given as reason for a downgrade.
On September 23, the HSE responded to calls for an independent review of PUH at a Regional Health Forum meeting, the Irish Independent reported.
Cllr Parsons called the response they received “devastating” after 11 formal questions, and two motions were met with no confirmation that downgrade the services was off the table.
Cllr Parsons said: “The message is clear from the public who protest marched in their thousands in August against the downgrade - if the HSE refuses to listen to them, to local representation then it falls to TDs, Senators, and Ministers of the areas to step up, ensure funding in the Health Budget, and insist that women in this region are not treated as second-class citizens when it comes to maternity care.”
Nearly two thousand people turned out earlier this month to protest downgrading at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe.