€14.5m for redevelopment of mental health services after closure of  Owenacurra facility

File picture: David Keane

The final cost for the redevelopment of mental health services in Midleton, Co Cork, after the closure of the Owenacurra facility will total €14.5m.

Veterans of the Save Owenacurra campaign have welcomed the new investment — which was only committed to after several years of campaigning — describing it as “a major success”.

However, works on a replacement facility for the Owenacurra centre have been delayed by at least nine months, with construction not set to begin now until the final quarter of 2024.

In parliamentary replies to Green TD Neasa Hourigan, the HSE said the projected cost of the new 10-bed facility on the site of Owenacurra is roughly €12.7m.

Added to this, the cost of purchasing and refurbishing two three-bed properties at Lauriston Park and O’Dwyer’s Rd will be €1.87m.

Those properties have been purchased with a view to accommodating the six remaining Owenacurra residents, who have been privately accommodated in the area since the centre was heavily damaged during flooding last October.

The Lauriston Park property officially opened for residents this week.

The Owenacurra Centre in Midleton.

The €14.5m to be spent on replacing Owenacurra stands in stark contrast to the €145,000 contract the HSE put out to tender in 2020 for restructuring works for the old centre, primarily aimed at separating its day service from its long-term residents’ rooms.

A HSE spokesperson said that the rebuild had been delayed primarily because of last October’s floods, which had led to a necessary redesign to include “flood protection elements such as raised floor levels”.

The HSE described the €145,000 tender as “maintenance of the Owenacurra facility”.

“This costing did not allow for the complete reconstruction of the facility, hence the major differential in costings,” the spokesperson said, adding that the present €12.7m construction budget “is not in any way comparable” to the 2020 tender.

This significant investment in residential mental health services will ultimately result in a much higher quality of service for current and future residents.

Owenacurra, which had accommodated long-term mental health patients in a residential setting for several decades, was first slated for closure by the HSE in June 2021, with the HSE stating repeatedly at the time that its infrastructure was “not fit for purpose”.

Amid a determined campaign involving residents and their families and concerned locals, however, the facility never officially closed its doors, though only six of its 20 residents remain in Midleton as of May.

Local Social Democrats councillor and prominent Owenacurra campaigner Liam Quaide described the €14.5m capital outlay as “a major success for the Owenacurra centre campaign”.

"These services will bring sixteen 24-hour staffed placements to East Cork, as well as local employment for clinical, catering and housekeeping staff," he said.

Mr Quaide noted his heightened “concern” however, at the delay of works on the new centre.

“I am very concerned, however, that there has been no residential service provision in East Cork since the Owenacurra centre stopped taking new referrals in February 2021,” he said.