Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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1386. To ask the Minister for Health the services currently on offer in the postnatal hubs already established; if there are plans to expand these services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29474/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The National Maternity Experience Survey, first conducted in 2020, has shown that improving postnatal care in the community is a priority for women. That is why, since 2022 significant investment has been directed into the establishment of a national network of Postnatal Hubs. These Hubs provide essential care for women in the community and closer to home in the weeks after birth.

A total of five pilot Postnatal Hubs were established in Cork, Kerry, Portiuncula, Sligo and Carlow-Kilkenny. €0.4 million was allocated in 2024 (with a full year cost of €1.9 million) to establish four more Postnatal Hubs. These Hubs are currently under development in the Dublin maternity hospitals and at Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda. This Government is investing an additional €2.0 million in the National Maternity Strategy in 2025, including initiating four further Postnatal Hubs, which will bring the national network to 13. A review of the pilot Hubs is underway, with a view to supporting the national standardisation of this model.

As the current provision of services in the five pilot Hubs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.