Bernard Allen
Ceist:397 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the funding available to the home birth service. [8872/02]
Written Answers. - Maternity Services.
The provision of maternity services generally is the responsibility of the health boards. However, health boards are experiencing difficulties in providing services for home births because of the practice of hospital confinement over the last 20-25 years and the consequent unavailability of experienced practitioners in home delivery. Where a woman engages the services of a private midwife for the purpose of a domiciliary birth, the board will make a maximum contribution of €1,000 towards the costs incurred.
In addition, the following three pilot projects are funded by the Department: a community midwifery service, conducted in Cork by the Southern Health Board, at a cost of €127,000 per annum; a hospital outreach approach conducted by the Western Health Board and based at the University College Hospital, Galway, at a cost of €317,000 per annum; and a DOMINO-Outreach project, domiciliary care in and out of hospital, based at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, at a cost of €254,000 per annum. An additional sum of €127,000 was provided on a one-off basis in 2000.