Maxwell calls for €10 hospital parking cap

Deputy David Maxwell has called (FG) for hospital car parking charges to be capped at €10 per day and for free parking to be available to families visiting seriously ill patients.”In the Cavan Monaghan hospital group, the charge to use the car park is €3 per stay, but people from my constituency who travel to Dublin can pay up to €17 to park at a hospital,” he said.

He said fuel, parking and food costs “could add up to more than €100 per trip” for someone travelling to Dublin for treatment.

Deputy Maxwell welcomed a review of the proposed €10 daily cap but said the charge must genuinely cover a full 24-hour period.”If family members leave the car park while another family member is still getting treatment, they must be allowed to return and collect or visit that person within 24 hours, for the same money,” he said. He also called for existing free or permitted parking arrangements for families of critically ill patients at Cavan and Monaghan hospitals to be made mandatory nationwide.

“Close family who have to travel to any hospital to visit a sick family member who may be at the end of life having to worry about a parking fee is wrong,” he said.