‘It was the last thing I needed’ – cancer patient’s car was clamped when she fell asleep during treatment

Tara Doonan, from Killeshandra, Co Cavan, also revealed she was clamped outside the Mater Hospital in Dublin after she fell asleep during a delayed appointment and did not get to top up her parking ticket in time.

Despite providing a letter from the ward manager explaining the situation, the National Transport Authority (NTA) did not uphold her appeal. She had to pay the €125 fine.

The Mater’s car park is the most expensive in the country at €3.20 an hour, which is capped at €15 a day. It is one of 10 hospitals that do not offer any concessionary parking to cancer patients.

The Irish Cancer Society has been campaigning for the abolishment of parking charges for the last 10 years, but despite repeated promises, the Government has not delivered, resulting in some cancer patients having to pay up to €300 a month for parking.

Ms Doonan was just 36 when she found a lump on her right breast during the summer of 2022. After visiting her GP, she attended the Mater’s triple assessment breast clinic for a biopsy and mammogram.

“After I found the lump, I quickly reassured myself that it was nothing to worry about because I thought I was too young,” she said.

“I thought breast cancer was only something that affected women later in life, so I convinced myself it was a cyst.”

The test results unfortunately confirmed the lump was cancerous.

“When you get the diagnosis, you’re just in it and you’re surviving. You’re going from one appointment to the next and you’re not really thinking about much else or able to think about much else apart from just surviving and getting through it,” she told RTÉ’s consumer show The Complaints Bureau.

Ms Doonan had to undergo five months of chemotherapy, a lumpectomy and four weeks of radiotherapy. She also had to take sick leave from her job as a PE teacher.

When she first attended the Mater for treatment, she parked in the hospital’s car park, which is operated by Euro Car Parks.

Despite leaving her home at the crack of dawn, the car park was often full when she arrived.

“We used that car park for two or three months, but we often found it really difficult to get a space and we couldn’t sustain the cost,” Ms Doonan said.

“My husband did some research and found that on-street parking would cost us a little bit less, with a rate of €1.80 per hour. We often had to park on streets about a 10-minute walk from the hospital to get the lower rate.

“There are a lot of hidden costs with a cancer diagnosis, which I wasn’t aware of until I had to enter the world of cancer.

“You’re driving up and down to Dublin spending money on petrol, tolls, parking, and that’s on top of your medication and your scans. The same income isn’t coming into the house because you’re not working, so it really is an extra stress and worry.”

Between June and November last year, Ms Doonan had maintenance treatment to help prevent the cancer coming back and received antibodies every three weeks. It took a significant toll on her body, often leaving her exhausted.

On August 30, she arrived in Dublin for an appointment and bought a three-hour parking ticket. The parking app does not allow users to buy a ticket for longer than three hours at a time.

However, on that day, her appointment ended up being delayed. She also fell asleep during the treatment and did not get to renew her parking ticket. When she returned to the car, it was clamped.

“I had to pay the €125 fee to get it released,” she said. “It was very stressful at the end of a long day and I was by myself. I was exhausted, so having to deal with that added a lot of stress that I could have done without. It was the last thing I needed.”

Ms Doonan asked the hospital to provide a letter explaining how her appointment was delayed and how she had fallen asleep. She appealed against the decision to Dublin Street Parking Services – the private company that enforces parking regulations for Dublin City Council – but it was rejected.

The company said in a letter: “The onus is on the driver to ensure they are aware of their parking expiry time and top up their parking within the 10-minute grace period.”

She then appealed to the clamping appeals officer with the NTA.

“While the clamping appeals officer acknowledges and sympathises with the circumstances which gave rise to this clamping event, and notes the appellant’s submissions, there does not appear to have been any error, or non-compliance with statutory vehicle clamping regulations, on the part of the parking controller,” the NTA said.

Ms Doonan described the decision as “really disappointing”.

In a statement to The Complaints Bureau, the Mater Hospital said it did not get any money from the car park. It said the State did not fund the provision of an underground car park and Eccles Street Car Park Ltd, the company connected to the car park that is ultimately owned by the Mater, had to take out a significant loan to build one. The cash flow generated from the car park is used to pay off the loan, which means the Mater is unable to introduce concessionary parking for cancer patients.

Averil Power, CEO of the Irish Cancer Society, said the issue was a huge burden for patients. Out of 26 hospitals providing treatment for cancer, 10 offer no concessions at all – including five Dublin-based hospitals. Eleven remove car-parking charges completely, while five have some form of a concession, including St James’s and St Vincent’s.

“Right now, without the Government stepping in, it’s really a postcode lottery,” Ms Power said. “The most expensive is Dublin and the fees are up to five times higher than in some regional hospitals, which affects people not just from Dublin, but also those travelling to Dublin.

“A review was published by a previous health minister in 2018 and promises were made to deliver. That didn’t happen. In 2020, there was a government commitment to cap the charges and that hasn’t been delivered yet.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said the HSE was currently carrying out an updated assessment of car-parking issues “due to the passage of time since the last review”.

“Accordingly, the HSE has advised that a working group is to be established to develop clear national guidance for the implementation of maximum daily par parking rates in acute hospitals.”

When contacted by The Complaints Bureau, the HSE could not give a definitive timeline for when the working group would be up and running.

Ms Doonan told the show: “It all just seems and sounds like more lip service that we’ve already heard. We want action now at this stage.”