Irish hospitals are pulling in over €60,000 a day from parking charges.
Figures from the HSE reveal that hospitals around the country made €22.4million from parking charges in 2017.
The figures were obtained through a Parliamentary question from Sinn Féin health spokesperson Louise O’Reilly.
Deputy O’Reilly is discussing the findings on Newstalk Breakfast this morning.
In its reply, the HSE said the majority of hospitals around the country charge for parking with just nine offering the service for free.
Of the 47 hospitals that charge for the service, some 16 use an external 3rd party to manage the car parks.
Cork University Hospital makes the most money in the country through car parking charges – pulling in €3.1m in 2017. The hospital is one of only two in the top ten that manages its own car park.
Dublin hospitals take up five of the top ten spots:
- Cork University Hospital – €3,100,000
- St Vincent's University Hospital – €2,500,000
- St James's Hospital – €2,059,250
- Galway University Hospitals – €1,449,902
- Beaumont Hospital – €1,251,433
- Tallaght Hospital – €1,200,000
- University Hospital Waterford – €1,186,984
- University Hospital Limerick – €1,044,819
- Mater Misericordiae University Hospital – €1,000,000
- Wexford General Hospital – €729,634
Parking at all NHS hospitals in Wales has been free since august of last year – a decade after the Welsh government originally announced its intention to phases out parking charges.
The Scottish Government moved to scrap hospital parking fees in 2009; however, a number of NHS sites in the country still charge for privately-run car parks.
Hospitals in Northern Ireland and England still charge for parking.
English hospitals earned £174m (€200m) from the charges last year.
