Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I took another look into the current state of play when I received the question in preparation for this morning. The figures are as follows. There are 36 public or voluntary hospitals, 33 of which now charge €10 or less for parking. The Deputy quite rightly points to the figure of €15, which certainly can be a lot for parking, particularly for someone who is already dealing with the pressures and difficulties of having to be in a hospital in the first place. The good news is that only three hospitals of the 36 charge up to €15, which is good. They are St. Vincent's University Hospital, the Mater and St. James's Hospital. I have asked my Department to engage with those hospitals. What we are being told is that in many cases, the hospitals do have schemes for patients. For example, where there is somebody coming in to visit a relative on a daily basis, they can give them free access or a big discount on the access.

Speaking to the Deputy's point, someone who is coming in for a CT scan may just be coming in once so they will not have any agreement in place. They may have to pay the €15. We have taken many steps in recent years to reduce hospital costs. We abolished inpatient charges entirely. That was costing up to €800 per year for an individual. We have included CT scans and made them free for a patient directly referred by their GP. This has two benefits. Previously, somebody might have had to wait for months to go into a hospital for the CT scan, or they could have chosen to pay privately, which could be very expensive. It is now completely funded by the State, so you can go into one of the private providers or one of the State hospitals.

I acknowledge that even though we have reduced healthcare costs for people pretty radically, this €15 charge is real and it can be difficult for people. We are going to engage with these three hospitals to see what more can be done.

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