Health Committee urges minister to reverse Cork mental health facility closure

The Owenacurra Centre in Midleton. File Picture

The Oireachtas Health Committee has written to Junior Health Minister Mary Butler urging a u-turn on the closure of the Owenacurra mental health facility.

The closure of facility in Midleton, which offers residential care for people with significant mental health challenges, was announced last June.

The HSE in Cork/Kerry has said it is not possible to renovate the 1970s single-storey building or bring it up to standard without completely demolishing it first.

However, residents, their families, mental health experts and politicians have campaigned for the centre to remain open, saying they recognise the excellence of the service and its contribution to the East Cork community.

Questions have also been raised about the alternative for these residents and the money spent by the HSE on other facilities such as a proposed centre in Carrigaline. The HSE has spent €500,000 so far on upgrading Glenwood House in Carrigaline, for which it does not yet have planning permission.

In comparison, maintenance costs at Owenacurra over the last ten years have been less than half a million euro, and proposed refurbishment plans that were eventually shelved were valued at €145,000.

Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler. File Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos Dublin

In a statement, the Oireachtas Health Committee said it had a number of concerns regarding the proposed closure of Owenacurra and subsequent arrangements for facilities in Cork.

It said: “The Joint Committee on Health has written to Minister Butler to express dissatisfaction and concern that the Owenacurra Centre is to be closed. 

"The Committee has called on the Minister to reverse this decision as a matter of urgency as it is in contravention of the Sharing the Vision policy which seeks to locate mental health services within communities.

“Furthermore, the Committee believes that the evidence presented by the HSE to justify the closure has been unconvincing and raises concerns about the ad-hoc nature of the decision-making process relating to capital infrastructure of mental health facilities.” 

Local Green Party councillor Liam Quaide has campaigned for the retention of Owenacurra and welcomed this move from the committee.

He said: “The recommendation by the Oireachtas Health Committee to overturn the closure is very welcome, and could not be clearer. It's obviously in the interests of residents that they be relieved of this prolonged uncertainty, and that their right to live in their own community is safeguarded.

“The Owenacurra Centre is also vital for many other people in East Cork who need respite placement, and who currently have no local 24-hour staffed referral option."