Concerns of conflict of interest over choice of replacement for Owenacurra mental health facility

Locals in Midleton have been campaigning for the retention of the Owenacurra mental health facility
since last autumn.

Campaigners for the retention of the Owenacurra mental health facility have accused the HSE of “not caring there’s a conflict of interest” after residents were offered new accommodation in Carrigaline.

It has emerged that at the same time that Owenacurra is facing closure leaving East Cork without a community-based mental health facility, a new property was purchased for the provision of a new centre in Carrigaline from the family of a senior official in the HSE’s Cork/Kerry mental health section.

At least nine of the remaining residents of Owenacurra had been offered accommodation at the new Carrigaline facility.

However, the property, formerly a B&B purchased by the HSE in January 2021 for €750,000, is understood to be stuck at the planning stage in terms of its redesignation as a care facility.

Maureen O’Sullivan, whose brother has resided at Owenacurra for 10 years, slammed the HSE’s communications with her family since the Carrigaline offer as “utterly useless and diabolical”.

“It took several meetings with us before Carrigaline was mentioned in December,” she said. 

They said in January they’d bring us for a visit, and then we didn’t hear from them again.”

Ms O’Sullivan said the fact that the Carrigaline property had been sold to the HSE by the brother-in-law of the acting head of Cork/Kerry mental health services “seems like a conflict of interest, but they don’t care, they don’t care at all”.

The Irish Examiner asked the HSE if there were issues regarding the procurement of the Carrigaline property, Glenwood House, if any investigations into the matter are ongoing, and if its purchase represents a potential conflict of interest. A response had not been received at the time of publication.

“Carrigaline wasn’t even on the agenda when they decided to close Owenacurra, it only emerged in September when they realised they’d taken on the wrong people," said Ms O'Sullivan.

"It’s against the HSE’s own policy to take people from their own area. Imagine taking someone who has their own room and putting them in a dorm. They had no plan whatsoever about where to put the residents.

We’re at the end of February now, and we still don’t know where my brother will be. What way is that to treat people with mental health issues? 

"It has been absolute torture the last nine months, it is a complete disgrace to the HSE, they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Locals in Midleton have been campaigning for the retention of the Owenacurra facility since last autumn after the HSE said it had “no choice” but to close the centre, as all of the buildings needed to be demolished.

The Public Accounts Committee recently received correspondence from local Green Party councillor Liam Quaide requesting that it investigate the Carrigaline decision and the procurement process involved. The issue will likely be discussed when the HSE next appears at the committee, most likely on March 10.

Another Owenacurra campaigner who requested anonymity said their family is concerned that their relative, a resident at the centre, “won’t know anyone in Carrigaline”.

“These residents have lived in Owenacurra for 30 years, some of them," the person said. "They’d be moving from everything they know.

"All their connections, their support, has been in Midleton. They’re a bit old to be turning around and trying to establish new connections.”