LauraLynn plans to greatly expand with full State funding

LauraLynn plans to expand hospice, care services with full State funding

Updated / Sunday, 8 Nov 2026 15:21

Ireland's only children's hospice LauraLynn has plans to greatly expand its hospice and palliative care services for children next year, when it begins to receive Section 38 funding.

The redesignation from Section 39 funding will mean that LauraLynn's core operations will be fully State funded from next year.

Speaking to RTÉ's This Week programme, Chief Executive of LauraLynn Kerry McLaverty said the charity will continue with all its fundraising operations as it plans to greatly expand its services.

She welcomed Section 38 funding as a "massive milestone" that will give the charity "funding security around the delivery of our hospice service".

"We'll no longer face that annual uncertainty of whether we can fundraise enough to provide our core services," she said.

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LauraLynn supports and cares for children with life-limiting conditions and their families.

Ms McLaverty was not sure when exactly in 2027, the core funding will come into effect, and they plan to continue with the level of fundraising that they have always done.

The charity's fundraising target for the rest of this year is €2.3m.

Ms McLaverty added that there will be some parts of LauraLynn's work that the HSE will not fund.

"Our advocacy work, our research, developing our facilities, service developments to make sure that we can always respond to the needs of our families, and really doing what LauraLynn does best is providing that wraparound special moments and memories for families that are so important," she said.

Ms McLaverty cited research from early in 2026 that found that there are as many as 1,500 children in Ireland who require specialist hospice care.

"That's more than double the number we previously thought," she said.

Currently, the charity supports around 420 children and their families each year.

It also provides approximately 4,000 home and community visits annually across the 26 counties.

The cost of running the hospice service this year is approximately €11m, of which €3.3m came from the State, meaning around 70% of its income came from fundraising.

"For us, this statutory funding announcement is fantastic for the services that we provide now to our families, but it doesn't mean that the job is done," Ms McLaverty said.

"State funding and fundraising, it's not an either-or.

"Our message to anyone who supports and fundraises for LauraLynn is really really clear: Please keep going. Your support matters enormously," she said.

All adult hospice services in Ireland have already been transferred to Section 38 service.

LauraLynn is the only children's hospice in the country.

In a statement on Friday, the Department of Health said that the redesignation of LauraLynn from Section 39 status to Section 38 will support universal access to palliative care and support the long-term sustainability of LauraLynn Children's Hospice and end dependence on fundraising to support core clinical services.