Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy urged to help open stepdown facility

A rehab charity has called on Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to intervene to help open a stepdown facility which has been lying idle for a decade.

Cuan Mhuire urged Mr Murphy to facilitate a meeting between it, Cork City Council, and the HSE to ensure funding can be found to open the 16-bed former B&B on Cork’s Western Rd, which is designed to break the cycle of homelessness. It follows Mr Murphy’s assertion that such issues are “not difficult problems to solve”.

“If there is funding there for a project that we know can deliver good in the community, and if we know we can do that, we just need to join up things better to make it happen more quickly,” said Mr Murphy.