Labour questions plan to sell mental hospital lands

THE viability of the Government’s plan to sell off hundreds of acres of unused land from the country’s psychiatric hospitals was questioned yesterday.

Junior Health Minister Tim O’Malley’s announcement that 200 acres of land will be sold to raise several hundred million euro for the mental health sector was described by the Labour Party as having all the hallmarks of another poorly thought-out idea from the Government.

The announcement last week took a number of interest groups in the health sector by surprise as sources in a number of health boards said they knew nothing about the plan and pointed out that many hospitals are owned by the health boards or trusts, making land sell-offs far from straightforward.