Rocketing car parking revenue at Mayo University Hospital
Car parking revenue has soared at the hospital
A Mayo TD has called for the phasing out of car parking charges at Mayo University Hospital as revenues soar.
Sinn Féin TD for Mayo, Rose Conway-Walsh, has called for the phasing out of hospital car parking charges at Mayo University Hospital, saying patients and families should not be charged simply because they need healthcare.
Figures provided by the HSE to Sinn Féin show that hospital car parking income at MUH rose from €60,811 in 2021 to €178,867 in 2025 - a 194% increase.
“Since 2021, income from hospital car parking fees at MUH soared 194% in 2025 to €178,867.
“Hospital car parking fees are a charge on being sick and on visiting families and friends in hospital.
“Patients with no public transport alternative and no other option but to drive to MUH for vital cancer treatment or scheduled appointments are being hit with huge parking fees that all add up over time, and add an additional unnecessary financial burden at an already stressful time in people’s lives,” said the Mayo TD.
“No one chooses to be sick or to have a sick child in hospital. Yet patients and families in across Mayo are being asked to pay these charges again and again. People with disabilities, carers and families visiting loved ones in hospital are also being extorted. This is wholly unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue as it has.
We can see that the amount being raised through hospital parking has increased dramatically, but our hospitals should not have to depend on money collected from sick people and their families to provide parking.
“It is vital that hospitals have sufficient parking facilities for patients, visitors and hospital staff, but it is past time that these extortionate fees were phased out,” Deputy Conway-Walsh added.
