Wicklow hospice hits €3m target

Delighted campaigners behind plans for the country’s newest hospice have celebrated reaching their €3m fundraising target — with congratulations from a movie superstar.

Wicklow resident Daniel Day-Lewis threw his weight behind the campaign to build a hospice for the area, remembering how his own mother was able to have peace in her final days with similar care in England.

And while the Hollywood heavyweight couldn’t be there for the official announcement that the building kitty was complete, he pre-recorded his personal reflections on the project which were broadcast to rapturous applause at the scenic coastal site of the planned facility yesterday.

Day-Lewis said the natural beauty of the site, which was donated by the Columban Sisters at Magheramore just south of Wicklow town, would be hugely important to the facility’s ethos and the quality of its service.

“Without the quality of the environment, then the experience becomes diminished. The harder the environment, the less sympathetic, the less consoling, the less peaceful, the harder that experience becomes.

“We don’t just want to slap ourselves on the back and say: ‘Look we built a hospice in Wicklow’ — it has to be a hospice built in the most beautiful and suitable place available. And we have this place and this is where we’re going to build it.”

Several of the campaign’s other high-profile patrons, including singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh, rugby star Shane Byrne and actor Phelim Drew, were on hand to welcome yesterday’s landmark announcement.

The American Ireland Fund helped the Wicklow Hospice Foundation to reach the €3 million target which was the result of six years’ tireless campaigning.

When constructed, the hospice will have 12 beds on a three-and-a-half acre site, with an emphasis on comfort and privacy for patients and their families.