Coombe’s busiest year in its history

THE country’s biggest maternity hospital, the Coombe in Dublin, has recorded its busiest year in its 181-year history.

A little more than 8,000 babies were born there in 2006 including three sets of triplets and one set of quadruplets.

The hospital’s annual report for 2006, published yesterday, shows a big increase in births, compared with 7,500 births in 2002. The figure is expected to exceed 8,500 this year.