Part of hospital to be razed

DEMOLITION work is due to start next week on part of a former Cork city maternity hospital.

The wrecking ball is due to move on to the site of the Erinville Hospital to knock down a section at the front of the building.

The condemned section faces the Western Road and was deemed structurally unsafe more than eight years ago. It was closed in 2000.

The 1861-built hospital, which takes up the rest of the site, closed in April 2007 following the amalgamation of Cork’s maternity services from the Erinville, St Finbarr’s and the Bon Secours Hospital to the Cork University Maternity Hospital.

Some HSE staff are still using buildings on the Erinville site.

The HSE said it is still examining options for the future use of the site.

It applied for planning permission last year to knock down the clinic section and a HSE spokesperson confirmed that work is due to start after Bank Holiday Monday.

“Loftus Civil Engineering Ltd has been appointed to demolish part of the old Erinville Hospital building,” she said.

“The HSE is currently looking at a number of options in relation to future plans for the site.”

Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer called on the HSE to move quickly to develop a strategy for how the site could be used.

The money being spent on security could be better used to deliver improved services for patients elsewhere, he said.