Five pregnant women who were forced to sleep rough in Dublin last year were among more than 100 mothers who gave birth at the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) while either homeless or at risk of homelessness.
In 2025, having a baby while living in emergency accommodation was one of the top five reasons for new family homelessness in Dublin.
According to the NMH, pregnant women who need to move from single adult homelessness services to family homeless services when pregnant or after giving birth are experiencing delays accessing accommodation.
The NMH is one of three Dublin maternity hospitals. Both the Rotunda and the Coombe have also reported significant numbers of patients who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness.
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In 2024, the most recent figures available, 767 women who attended the Rotunda were at risk of or experiencing homelessness. The year before the same hospital reported “significant challenges” with the level of homelessness experienced by its patients.
In 2024, the Coombe reported a 48 per cent increase in the number of referrals for women and families who had no access to stable home accommodation when compared with the same figure for 2023.
According to the most recent statistics, there are over 17,500 homeless people in Ireland, including 5,571 children.
The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) told the Public Accounts Committee that a single person becoming a family, either from the birth of a child or gaining custody of a child, was one of the top five reasons why families entered homelessness in Dublin in 2025. It said that 8 per cent of all new family presentations in 2025 were for this reason.
That reason came after notices of termination, a relationship breakdown with a parent, and a family becoming homeless following family reunification to Ireland. The birth of a child or custody of a child as a reason came before families who had become homeless after leaving Direct Provision in the preceding six months.
Family homelessness is different from single adult homelessness. Leaving Direct Provision in the preceding six months was the largest driver of single adult homelessness in Dublin in 2024 and 2025.
The NMH runs an “inclusion health service” for vulnerable women, including those who are homeless, international protection applicants, sex workers or those in the criminal justice system.
A spokeswoman for the hospital told The Irish Times that in 2025, more than a dozen women who attended the inclusion health service were pregnant women who “required a transfer from singles to family accommodation and experienced delays”.
It said that of the 236 patients supported by the inclusion health service in 2025, “86 were homeless, 30 were at risk of homelessness, five slept rough in pregnancy due to issues accessing homeless accommodation and 16 required a transfer from singles to family accommodation and experienced delays.”
Between 6,000 and 7,000 women are estimated to give birth at the NMH every year. In 2024, the total number of births at the Holles Street hospital was 6,858.
Dublin maternity hospitals also care for women who become pregnant while living in international protection accommodation centres.
The NMH said it was not aware of any cases where a pregnant woman seeking international protection had lost their placement due to having a baby.
A woman who becomes pregnant while staying in an adult-only international protection centre can request a transfer via her maternity hospital to a family centre.
New protocols between maternity hospitals and the International Protection Accommodation Service mean that these transfers to family centres will only take place between 12 and 28 weeks’ gestation, to avoid disruption to the woman’s care.
