CUH has lost over 570 car park spaces in past three years, committee told
Overall, onsite parking was down 34% as of January 2026 compared with January 2023, while offsite parking increased by 183%. File picture: Larry Cummins
Cork University Hospital (CUH) has lost more than 570 onsite car park spaces over the past three years, with the planned addition of new wards set to reduce capacity further.
HSE communications and public affairs manager Ann Martin told the Dáil's public accounts committee that CUH is spending millions of euro on offsite parking, which has increased 183% in just three years. Ms Martin said that CUH management “recognises that car parking availability on the hospital campus is significantly constrained”.
She said the loss of car parking spaces at CUH is due to new developments on the site, including a surgical hub, helipad, and paediatric centre. More than 570 spaces have been permanently lost as a result.
An action group set up in January 2023 is working on long‑term solutions, said Ms Martin, adding that these will require significant investment and will take several years to deliver.
In the interim, short-term measures have been implemented such as off-campus car parking facilities for staff to ‘Park & Walk’ and ‘Park & Ride’.
As a result, overall parking availability has increased slightly since early 2023, but there has been a significant shift away from onsite parking. The proportion of spaces on site has fallen from 82% to just 52%.
Overall, onsite parking was down 34% as of January 2026 compared with January 2023, while offsite parking increased by 183%.
Staff parking on site has dropped sharply, from 1,022 spaces to 408 over the three‑year period. However, off‑site staff parking has risen from 370 to 1,048 spaces, contributing to an overall increase of 5% in total parking provision.
Public parking has also increased slightly, rising by 6% from 667 spaces in 2023 to 707 in 2026, all of which are on site.
Ms Martin said the HSE has approved 1,100 spaces in an offsite car park and will engage with potential providers on additional capacity later this year. A multi-storey onsite car park with a minimum of 500 spaces is included in the HSE Capital Plan 2026, but construction is not anticipated before 2028.
Future capital developments, including new ward blocks, will further reduce onsite parking, meaning that delivery of these projects “is essential”, Ms Martin said.
The hospital also provided figures on revenue generated from car parking, which is used to fund the upkeep, security, and staffing of CUH parking facilities. Any surplus was historically reinvested in patient care.
Since 2023, however, parking-related expenditure has exceeded income due to investments in additional parking projects.
The hospital’s income from paid parking, largely public, has risen from €1.4m in 2020 to €2.7m last year, with just under €12m in total parking revenue between 2020 and 2025.
CUH generates significantly more revenue from parking than any other hospital in Ireland — more than 35% higher than St James’s Hospital in Dublin, which has the second‑highest intake.
Between 2020 and 2022, just under €3m was generated from parking. However, from 2023 to 2025, there has been a combined loss of €1.3m.
New expenditure in this time includes €5m in coach hire for Park & Ride transport, as well as four new car park leases; €400,775 for Cork City FC Bishopstown Stadium, €191,880 for Parking People (Lee Auto Centre); as well as €15,121 to Solas Financial and €40,590 to O’Flynn’s Group.
Existing car park leases at Highfield Rugby Club and Bishopstown GAA club also saw costs increase from 2023, with a total of €663,850 and €246,187 spent over the six-year period respectively.
Other parking expenditure includes maintenance, security, payment systems, signage, and ICT services. Overall, CUH has spent €10.3m on parking.
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