HSE spending €43,400 a month on renting and cleaning Cork facility

HSE had turned down the chance to buy Garnish House for €1.6m as it represented poor value for money. Its spend on the premises since has been around €1.25m

New documents released to Cork councillor Liam Quaide (left) and Green TD Neasa Hourigan (right) show that the HSE’s national estates section expressed heightened scepticism regarding the purchase of Garnish House in Cork city and initially refused to sanction it. Picture: Dan Linehan

The HSE’s estates section initially refused to sanction the rental of a former guest house in Cork city during the pandemic by Cork/Kerry mental health services due to the transaction not representing value for money.

Since April 2020, the HSE has spent €43,400 per month renting and cleaning a facility at Garnish House in the city which has played host to residents vacated from another HSE-owned facility at Millfield House due to Covid-19.