Councillor claims information withheld on reasons behind proposed demolition of East Cork mental health facility

THE HSE has been accused of withholding information regarding the proposed demolition of the Owenacurra mental health facility in Midleton.

The issue was brought to Cork County Council by Green Party councillor Liam Quaide, who said the closure of the centre “could not be justified” and that questions he had raised with the HSE about the reasoning behind the proposed demolition had gone unanswered.

The residential and day centre has been serving East Cork for 33 years. An announcement was made in June that the centre would be closed due to building defects by October 31, with residents to be transferred to other locations. However, the closure has been pushed back to an unspecified date.

Mr Quaide said it has not been made clear why demolition of the centre is needed. He said that reports and FoI requests submitted by TD Neasa Hourigan had not been returned and that six of seven questions he submitted to the HSE went unanswered.

A spokesperson for Cork Kerry Community Healthcare told that “mental health services remain committed to responding to Freedom of Information requests, representations, and parliamentary questions received in relation to the Owenacurra Centre”.

They added that “the process of finding the most appropriate alternative placements for all residents of the Owenacurra Centre will continue for several more months” and that they will “continue to engage with residents and their loved ones”.

“We wish to repeat that our original plan for the Owenacurra Centre was to carry out a full refurbishment. However, once planning work for this refurbishment began, we established that refurbishment would effectively mean demolishing the building,” said the spokesperson. “We also established that even this level of refurbishment would not guarantee that the building would meet building requirements or be regarded as fit for purpose.

“We sincerely regret the fact that the centre needs to close and, in particular, we acknowledge and regret the disruption for the 19 residents.

“Local Dáil members met with the minister for mental health Mary Butler and HSE representatives on October 7 to be briefed on the centre, including recent mental health developments in the area. In addition to this meeting and, most recently, councillors and TDs on the Local Health Forum were also briefed. The HSE continue to engage with the committee on the issue.”

However, Mr Quaide claimed at the County Hall meeting that “key Information has been withheld from public representatives”.

“This withholding of information, along with misleading briefings about consultation with families that was not happening, has given the community in East Cork an impression that there is no accountability for this closure.”

“The HSE’s maintenance department has said that there are building defects that are beyond repair,” Mr Quaide told the meeting.

“Renovations for the centre were designed last year but these documents were omitted from the building reports that the HSE shared with families and public representatives.

“Even if demolition is unavoidable, the removal of the service from East Cork is not justified.”

Sinn Féin Cllr Danielle Twomey echoed that it had been “tedious” to try to get information from the HSE and said that she had been “fobbed off” when trying to make contact. Many of her constituents are users of the centre’s day services.

The issue was called a “nightmare situation” by other councillors with Fine Gael Cllr Susan McCarthy saying that the people using the centre are going to “fall through the cracks” if nothing is done.

“It’s just not acceptable. The HSE has to cough up,” she said. “We need a new facility and it would be very small change for such an important project. This just isn’t good enough.”

Mr Quaide said that the families he had spoken with have been left in a “distressing state of uncertainty”.

It was agreed by council members that a letter would be written to all Government party leaders, as well as HSE CEO Paul Reid, to request that the families of residents be allowed to appoint their own structural engineer to assess the feasibility of renovations and that the transfer of residents be suspended while the Public Accounts Committee examines documents relating to the closure.