The Coombe Hospital marks 200 years of providing care to women, newborns and families
20.07.26
The Coombe Hospital, one of Ireland’s leading providers of women’s and newborn healthcare, proudly marks its bicentennial anniversary this year, celebrating 200 years of dedicated care to generations of women, newborns and families.
The Coombe Hospital marked the milestone with the unveiling of a series of commomorative flags along its Cork Street frontage. Students from the Print Department in the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) collaborated with staff members of The Coombe Hospital to create the flags, which celebrate two centuries of care, community, compassion and innovation in women’s and newborn health, transforming personal stories and shared values into a series of thoughtful visual responses.
As two of the Liberties’ longest standing institutions, this collaboration also reflects a shared connection to the area and the communities they have served for generations.
As part of the bicentenary celebrations, every baby born at The Coombe Hospital on 17 July 2026 was presented with a commemorative medal to mark this special milestone.
Founded in 1826, The Coombe Hospital has supported countless women and families during some of life’s most important moments. The Coombe Hospital provides specialist care across every stage of a woman’s life, from birth through to older age.
In 2025, almost 6,500 women gave birth at The Coombe Hospital, and approximately 900 babies were cared for in its Neonatal Unit, a national centre of excellence. The hospital remained the largest provider of benign gynaecology services in Ireland, recording 19,000 attendances at outpatient gynaecology clinics, and performing just under 7,000 gynaecological surgical procedures.
Commenting on their bicentennial, Master of The Coombe Hospital, Professor Michael O’Connell, said: “We are proud to celebrate our bicentennial anniversary at The Coombe Hospital today. Reaching 200 years is a remarkable achievement and an important moment for our staff. Our event today presents an opportunity to reflect on the heritage and history of the hospital, while looking to the future. We will continue our commitment to providing exceptional care for women and newborns for generations to come.”
The Coombe was founded in 1826 when Margaret Boyle purchased and repurposed the vacated Meath Hospital building in the Coombe area of Dublin’s Liberties, founding what was then called the Coombe Lying-in Hospital, providing vital maternity care to women in one of the city’s most densely populated and disadvantaged communities.
Its establishment followed a tragedy during the severe winter of 1825, when two women and their newborn babies died near Thomas Street while attempting to reach the Rotunda Hospital on the city’s northside during a snowstorm. News of this event caused widespread outcry and prompted a group of concerned citizens, led by Margaret Boyle, to band together and ensure that vulnerable pregnant women would never again have to endure such dangerous conditions to receive obstetric care.
The hospital moved to the current site on Cork Street in 1967. Although the original 19th-century hospital buildings were demolished in 1974 to make way for a housing development, a distinctive Victorian portico was preserved on the old site and now stands as the ‘Coombe Memorial’.
Officially inaugurated as a monument in 1980, it commemorates not only the many mothers who gave birth there but also the broader community whose lives intersected with the hospital.
