Back in 2014, Evelyn O’Rourke who many will know as the RTÉ arts and media correspondent wrote a book called Dear Ross.

It is a very personal title as Ross is her son, and just a few weeks into her pregnancy with him, she found out she had breast cancer. Her other little boy Oisín was only one at that time. It’s been 10 years since I read it, but Evelyn’s book still sticks out in my mind as she documented her journey very honestly.

There is one passage I still remember. It was just after she got her diagnosis in St Vincent’s Hospital. Her head was spinning after being delivered such crushing news and yet, she had to scramble around in her handbag looking for coins for the pay machine for parking. This is a moment many people have faced.

You visit a hospital and receive a diagnosis; you still have to pay the car park fee. A loved one is very sick or has died; you still have to pay the car park fee. I think this is one of the reasons we got such a big reaction to part one of our series on hospital car park fees.

Media interest

Fourteen radio stations reached out to the Irish Country Living team to cover the story on their shows. Really, there is nothing like radio to get an instant reaction to a story. The text messages came flooding in after each interview, people telling their own stories, speaking out about the costs as well as the stress of trying to find a car park space in some of our hospitals.

We reported last week that Cork University Hospital took in the most amount of income in car park fees in 2023 and yet, one listener texted in to say they recently spent nearly half an hour trying to get a space there.

There was also plenty of comments about the fact that some hospital car parks were free, while others charged upwards of €8 for a four-hour stay. People are paying the price, based on where they live, and as one texter pointed out, those in rural areas are paying an even bigger price as often they are paying these fees after a long commute.

The situation is also an issue for staff if there is no staff car park provided. For some staff, lack of parking is adding over an hour to their 12-hour shift. One nurse spoke to Irish Country Living about the fact that she has to leave her house at 5am if she is on the day shift. She commutes over an hour and she has to be near the hospital extra early to get a space. And unfortunately, it is a situation that doesn’t look to be improving - I’ve heard that the parking situation for staff at the new children’s hospital will be very tight as well.

If you feel that the new Government really needs to sit up and put a cap on hospital car park charges, then we are running a petition that we hope you will sign. You can scan the QR code below.

Finally, thank you to Margaret Hawkins who put a huge amount of work into this two-week series. She has been following the story for months, and was passionate about the need to highlight these issues to our readers.