Mayo TD calls for phase-out of MUH parking charges as revenues soar
Figures provided by the HSE to Sinn Féin show that hospital car parking income at MUH increased 194 percent from 2021 to 2025.
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 percent increase.
Teachta Conway-Walsh said: “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.
“No one chooses to be sick or to have a sick child in hospital. Yet patients and families 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.
The Erris native concluded by saying “The Government should provide replacement funding to facilitate the phasing out of these charges, eventually seeing them abolished for good, while also ensuring hospital parking remains available for everyone who needs it.”