This is one of the first real decisions of a pregnancy, and it usually arrives before anyone has explained the options. This guide covers the administrative side only: what each route costs you, what it changes, and when you have to decide. It takes no view on which care is better for you, because that is a conversation for your GP or your maternity unit.
The short version
- The three routes
- Public, semi-private and private
- Semi-private
- Available only in Dublin maternity hospitals
- Public care
- Free through the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme, with no medical card or GP visit card needed
- When you choose
- You are asked on the phone, when you ring for your first appointment
- The one everyone misses
- You register for the free scheme on all three routes, private included
- Home birth
- Book in with a maternity hospital early, at 10 to 12 weeks
- Who decides
- The HSE for public care; your insurer and the consultant set the private fees
The choice is made on the phone, earlier than you expect
There is no form and no appointment for this. Citizens Information puts it plainly: you are asked whether you intend to be a public, semi-private or private patient when you ring to make your first appointment. People discover the question while answering it.
So it is worth reading the rest of this page before that call rather than after it. The first step either way is your GP or your local maternity unit, who can confirm the pregnancy and talk through what is available where you live.
Semi-private does not exist outside Dublin
Both the HSE and Citizens Information state this in the same words: semi-private care is available only in Dublin maternity hospitals. If your maternity unit is anywhere else in the country, you have a two-way choice, not a three-way one, and any advice you read about the middle option simply does not apply to you.
Register for the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme whichever route you take. The HSE says so on both the semi-private and the private page: "You should also register for the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme." Going private is not opting out of it. The scheme is what covers your GP appointments during the pregnancy, your baby's 2 week and 6 week checks, and your own check-up 6 weeks after the birth, and on all three routes those checks are done by your GP.
What each route actually gives you
Public
Free if you live in Ireland, or intend to live here for at least a year, through the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme. It covers your antenatal appointments, labour and delivery, and postnatal care, and it applies to births in hospital and to the HSE home birth service. You do not need a medical card or a GP visit card.
Two details that surprise people. You get a private room while you are giving birth, a single birth suite, even on the public route; the public ward is where you recover afterwards, generally for around three days. And most appointments are with a midwife rather than a doctor, with obstetricians involved where the pregnancy needs it.
You can also split your care between your GP and the hospital, which is called combined or shared care, or have all of it at the hospital. Both are covered by the scheme. To register, you register with a GP and they handle the scheme registration; you need your PPS number.
Semi-private
Dublin only. A consultant obstetrician has overall responsibility for your care, and you meet a consultant or a specialist obstetrician at each hospital visit. Midwives care for you during the birth, with hospital doctors if needed. Afterwards you are in a semi-private ward, or in a public ward until a semi-private bed becomes free.
There is a fee. Most people use private health insurance for it, and the HSE's advice is to check with your insurer rather than assume.
Private
Available in all maternity hospitals and units. A consultant obstetrician provides your care throughout, and you see them at each antenatal visit. Extra scans or tests you need during the pregnancy are covered. Afterwards you get a private room if one is available, and a semi-private room or public ward if not.
Two honest caveats from the HSE's own page, both about availability rather than money: if your obstetrician is on leave you see a different one at your appointment, and if they are unavailable when you go into labour your care is usually provided by a different obstetrician.
The fee question to ask before you book
Private care has two bills, not one: a consultant's fee and a hospital fee. The HSE is specific about how insurance meets them: your policy "will cover most of the hospital fee, but may not cover the consultant's fee". The gap is yours.
So the sequence matters. Check your level of cover with your insurer before booking your antenatal care, because you are charged for anything the policy does not cover. For the consultant's fee itself, the HSE points you at the individual obstetrician's private secretary, who can tell you that consultant's figure. There is no national price.
What is the same on all three
- Midwives care for you during the birth on every route. The consultant's role differs beforehand and afterwards, not in who is with you.
- Your baby's 2 week and 6 week checks are done by your GP on all three, under the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme.
- Public in-patient and day service charges no longer apply. They were abolished on 17 April 2023, and women getting maternity services are also outside the emergency department charge.
- Your entitlement to free maternity care does not depend on choosing public. It depends on living here, or intending to for at least a year.
If you are thinking about home birth or a midwife-led scheme
The HSE home birth service is part of free public care, and it comes with the one hard deadline on this page: to access it you need to book in at a maternity hospital of your choice early in the pregnancy, at 10 to 12 weeks. Whether it is an option is a clinical question for your GP and your maternity unit.
Some hospitals also run a DOMINO scheme, where a team of midwives provides your care through pregnancy, labour and birth, and then visits you at home afterwards. It is part of public care, and availability depends on the hospital.
Who decides
The HSE runs public maternity care and the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme, and your maternity unit decides what is available locally. Fees for semi-private and private care are set by the hospital and the individual consultant, and what is reimbursed is decided by your insurer. Which type of care suits your pregnancy is a clinical matter for your GP, your midwife or your obstetrician, and nothing here is advice on that.
The paperwork side, in order
parentready puts your Irish parent admin in sequence, with the deadlines attached, so the things that only matter once are waiting for you at the right moment. Free, private, and on your device.
Official sources
- HSE: Antenatal and maternity care options (the three types, and semi-private being Dublin only)
- HSE: Going public (what the scheme covers, the single birth suite, shared care, registering through your GP, the 10 to 12 week home birth booking, DOMINO)
- HSE: Going semi-private (the consultant's role, the ward, the fee, and registering for the scheme as well)
- HSE: Going private (the two fees, what insurance may not cover, checking before booking, the consultant's private secretary)
- Citizens Information: Choices in antenatal care (being asked on the first phone call, and the length of a typical public stay)
- Citizens Information: Charges for hospital services (in-patient charges abolished on 17 April 2023, and the maternity exemption from emergency department charges)
Facts checked against the official pages on 12 August 2026. This is general information about how the three routes work administratively. It is not medical advice, not a recommendation of any route, hospital, consultant or insurer, and not a quote for any fee. The HSE runs public maternity care; fees and cover are matters for the hospital, the consultant and your insurer. Rules can change; always confirm on the official pages linked above and with your maternity unit.