Dublin hospital statistics
show citizenship debate
is a storm in a tea-cup
©Marie O’ Connor

Dublin hospital reports show the citizenship debate is a storm in a tea-cup. Patient statistics do not bear out the stereotype that has been created in the media, namely, that refugee and asylum-seeking women are turning up en masse to give birth, unannounced, in the city's main maternity hospitals. Their annual reports contain no data to back up statements made in recent months by their Masters about the high numbers of non-nationals arriving on their doorsteps in advanced pregnancy or even in labour.

In the Rotunda Hospital, the vast majority of women who turn up "unbooked" miscarry. "These mothers are not 'citizen shoppers'" said Marie O'Connor, a sociologist and health correspondent: "They are mothers who have suffered a miscarriage after going into premature labour: their babies weight less than 500 grams (just over one pound)."

Hospital figures show that less than 200 mothers who are not 'on the books' give birth every year at the Rotunda Hospital to "viable" babies, that is, to babies weighing over 500 grams. This small group, less than 3 per cent of all hospital birth mothers, is believed to include Irish nationals, but the Rotunda gives no breakdown as to their country of origin. No public statistics exist for the other two hospitals.

The picture of "late arrivers" endangering their lives or that of their babies is not backed up by the evidence. Antenatal care has been shown to have little or no effect on birth outcomes: hospitals statistics show that unbooked patients account for only a small minority of infant deaths at or around the time of birth. "Labeling these women as risking their babies' lives by turning up unbooked is wrong: miscarriage is not something that can usually be prevented, " Marie O'Connor pointed out.

Overall, these figures do not support the stereotype of large numbers of women arriving in late in pregnancy or in labour. Birth weight correlates with gestational age. Having a baby weighing less than 500 grams during the last 12 weeks of pregnancy is extremely unlikely.

Nor is the number of refugee and asylum-seeking mothers giving birth in the Dublin hospitals as high as has been suggested. Just under 3, 000 refugee and asylum-seeking women gave birth at the three main maternity hospitals in 2001, according to the National Maternity Hospital Report of that year. The total number of mothers giving birth was 24, 000: only one in every eight was therefore a non-national mother.

©Marie O’ Connor
National Birth Alliance

© National Birth Alliance An Chomhghuallaiocht Naisiunta Breithe