Consultants on public-only contracts in the Rotunda Hospital delivered 49 babies to private patients over a three-year period, the hospital has said.Last month, it emerged the Rotunda was permitting consultants on public contracts to continue carrying out private work at the hospital.Furthermore, consultants at both the Rotunda and Cork University Maternity Hospital were paid up to €1,500 by private colleagues to provide emergency weekend cover.Public-only contracts were introduced in 2023 to phase private work out of the public system and to increase the number of senior decision-makers on site at evenings and weekends.At a meeting of the Oireachtas health committee on Wednesday, Dr Vicky Dwyer, Rotunda clinical director, said there were 49 instances of babies being delivered by public-only consultant contract (POCC) holders between early 2023 and the end of 2025. “There was only one consultant on the public contract providing private antenatal care,” she said. “In terms of the unscheduled emergency care at the weekend, there were eight."The decision by the Rotunda to permit such work resulted in significant controversy, with both the HSE and the Minister for Health criticising the hospital.Following the backlash, the hospital reversed its decision. Private maternity care stopped being provided by consultants on public-only contracts on June 8th.Prof Seán Daly, master of the Rotunda hospital, said the past six weeks have been “particularly challenging”.“The issue of continuity of care has been raised over recent weeks and it is more challenging in the public setting due to the ratio of doctors and midwives to pregnant women,” he said.“This is something that needs to be addressed in the next national maternity strategy.”At the same meeting, the HSE maintained that breaches of the contract are not widespread.Anne Marie Hoey, chief people officer at the HSE, told the committee the organisation had started an “assurance process” in March or April to evaluate compliance with terms of the contract.It is expected this process will conclude this month, with a 75 per cent response rate to date, she said.“No other non-compliance in maternity hospitals has been reported,” Hoey told politicians.Committee chairman Pádraig Rice raised concerns about the proportion of consultants on these contracts who were working evenings and weekend.He cited figures from the Department of Health which showed 28 per cent of POCC holders in the South West were working evenings, while in the Dublin North East region, 7 per cent of contract holders were working Saturdays.The Mid West region had the highest rates of POCC consultants working both evenings and weekends.Speaking after the committee hearing concluded, Rice said: “We also need to see consultants complying with their evening and weekend contract commitments."He added: “This laissez-faire approach to consultant contract governance and monitoring has gone on far too long. It needs to change. Unless we see public-only consultants meeting their extended hours obligations, waiting lists will continue to spiral."