David Cullinan

But also we hit a record 17 million, as you said, in 2025.

Obviously, this is concerning for patients and for families and people who visit people in hospitals who have to pay.

The HSE have said on numerous occasions that obviously it is revenue for hospitals, but there is also some upkeep in relation to patients.

car parks, maintenance and so on and there are some operational costs but the vast majority of it goes to hospitals and I have been consistently saying that these charges increase the cost of being sick, to hit patients, to hit families, to hit visitors and staff at a time when many people

are already under pressure, financial pressure.

And the patients I'm concerned about are people who attend repeated appointments, including cancer patients, people with long-term or serious conditions.

These charges are just not a minor issue.

They are an additional cost attached to accessing health care.

And what I have called for, Clare, is for these charges to be phased out over three years because I have spoken to hospital managers.

The vast majority of them have no problem with charges being abolished if they are compensated for the loss of revenue.

Well, I don't think the cost is huge in the overall context of the health budget.

17 or 18 million euro a year isn't huge.

But obviously, the cost to a patient and to somebody who is visiting somebody is significant.

There was issues raised with me, operational issues in relation to if the car parking charges were abolished, would people use the car parking spaces?

for work or for leisure or for shopping.

So that is a concern.

That's why we call for the phased abolition over three years to engage with hospital managers on a hospital by hospital, site by site basis.

And bear in mind, there was a programme for government commitment to reduce the cost of parking charges.

That hasn't happened.

They've gone up.