The Department of Health is to invest €1.5 million in the new National Perinatal Centre in Cork.
The centre will be incorporated into the BUPA Ireland Research Centre at the new €75 million Cork University Maternity Hospital currently under construction.
The National Perinatal Centre will collect and collate data from all maternity hospitals in the State and use this information to issue national guidelines informing best practice in obstetrics and gynaecology, Tánaiste Ms Harney, said in Cork yesterday.
Ms Harney congratulated BUPA Ireland on its €2.5 million donation to the centre which represents one of the largest corporate donations ever to an Irish university and said the centre will bring together research, training and best clinical practice in obstetrics and gynaecology.
Prof John Higgins, professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at UCC, said the new research centre would have a staff of 40-50 people and would attract people with international experience.
Managing director of BUPA Ireland, Martin O'Rourke, said that mothers, babies and families will benefit from the research which will be undertaken at the centre while UCC president, Prof Gerry Wrixon, said the centre would further consolidate's UCC reputation as a centre of excellence in research and teaching.