52 babies born in Holles Street during the storm… and one was called Emma

52 babies have been born in Holles Street during this week's storm, and one of them was even called Emma.

The National Maternity Hospital's master, Dr Rhona Mahony, said that "life goes on" and that staff have been working round the clock to ensure that operations continue as smoothly as possible in the hospital. Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on RTE Radio 1 today, she said that it has been "a busy 48 hours to say the least."

“We’ve had 52 babies, which even by our standards is busy. One set of twins, 34 weeks so a little early but they’re doing well. “We’ve had an Emma! We’ve had one Emma and the potential for a few more. “On average we have around 25 babies a day here. On our busiest day we’d have around 42 babies and then on the quietest day we’d have 10 or 11.”

Dr Mahony said that one of the biggest issues the hospital is facing is trying to get expectant mothers into the actual hospital. She said:

“We know that there are patients out there at the moment having great difficulty getting to hospital, and there are a couple of mothers in labour who are stranded and in a high-risk position, and trying to determine if we can move people out or get people in, so it’s still tricky.”

Similarly, members of staff at the Rotunda hospital have also been working hard to make sure that everything goes according to plan. Already, the hospital has seen 30 births over the course of yesterday and today. In a statement, the hospital said they didn't think any babies had been named 'Emma,' 'Beast,' or 'East' yet.