Three of the country’s main public voluntary hospitals have said they are facing a funding shortfall of more than €120 million between them this year.
The Mater hospital in Dublin told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (Pac) on Thursday that without additional Health Service Executive (HSE) supplementary funding last year it would have been insolvent.
Its chief executive, Josephine Ryan Leacy, said that in 2025 the hospital had been forecasting a financial deficit of more than €33 million. She said such an overrun, when added to the hospital’s existing historical accumulated deficit of €48 million, “would have made us insolvent”.
The chief executive said that at the time the hospital had looked at very difficult cost-saving options including closing wards, reducing access to cancer treatments or cutting back on outpatient clinics.
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She said the Mater had later reached a “risk sharing” deal with the HSE which saw it receive additional funding and secure a break-even position which avoided the need for cuts in services.
However, the Mater, St Vincent’s University Hospital in south Dublin and Tallaght hospital all told the committee that the initial financial allocations they have been given by the HSE this year would not cover the cost of providing services and paying staff and suppliers.
The three hospitals said they were still in talks with the HSE about a final budget.
The Mater said it was facing a funding shortfall this year of close to €50 million. It said this would effectively double its existing accumulated deficit. It said this could not be allowed to happen as its auditors had warned that increasing the deficit further would have implications for its directors under company law.
The hospitals argued that they had been historically underfunded and were seeking reforms to the funding model for the sector.
Ryan Leacy said the current funding model was not “keeping pace” with demand or the needs of patients.
Tallaght hospital said it was facing a funding gap this year of €40 million.
Adam O’Hare, chief financial officer at the Mater, said the hospital had a budget for 2026 of €597.2 million.
“But just for context, we finished out 2025 with a final allocation of €614.8 million. So we are effectively €17 million behind our final position for last year before we factor in any additional payments such as €15 million for pay awards under national agreements for 2026,” he told Albert Dolan of Fianna Fáil.
The chief executive of St Vincent’s University Hospital, Pauline McGrath, said for 2025 the hospital was reporting a break-even position.
“However, this year we are once again in a position where we have been provided with an opening budget that does not meet service requirements,” she said. “Therefore we have not signed off a service agreement with the HSE for 2026 but are actively engaged with the regional HSE team on the issue.”
The hospital’s director of finance, Stefanie O’Brien, said it was currently projecting a funding gap of €31.9 million for this year.
She said the hospital was also carrying an accumulated deficit of €28.4 million.
Aisling Heffernan, integrated healthcare area manager for the HSE Dublin South region, said a lot of the funding gap at St Vincent’s was driven by an increase in activity.
She said the hospital was confident it would deliver about €1.9 million in savings and that it would receive nearly €10 million in further support.
