Relatives of Owenacurra residents 'distraught' at claims 'appropriate safeguards' are in place at facility

Relatives said the impression they have is 'that key authorities are detaching themselves from their responsibilities'

The Owenacurra Centre in Midleton.  has six remaining residents. An inspection of the facility by MHC inspectors two weeks ago. Picture: Howard Crowdy

The families of the remaining residents of the Owenacurra mental health facility say they were left “distraught” over claims made by the Mental Health Commission regarding HSE moves to close the centre.

Owenacurra in Midleton, Cork, had been slated for closure in June 2021 — however, the facility has never actually shut its doors.

In a letter to the Oireachtas Health Committee (MHC), relations of the centre's six remaining residents spoke of their distress at reading in the Irish Examiner the assertion by the MHC that “appropriate safeguards” had been put in place by the HSE to uphold the rights of the people still living at the centre.

The family members said in their letter to the committee that the MHC’s assertion represents “a distortion of our reality as families who remain in a prolonged ordeal of being offered placements that are seriously inadequate in several key respects”.

They claimed that the MHC had declined to engage with the families for more than a year following the closure announcement, only to do so at short notice in the latter half of 2022 after coming under pressure both from the families and via media reporting on the matter.

Further, the families suggested that the MHC had repeatedly avoided scrutiny regarding its role in the closure by refusing to attend hearings of the Oireachtas Pensions and Health Committees to discuss the subject. They wrote: 

The overall impression that we as families have is that key authorities are detaching themselves from their responsibilities towards the very vulnerable group of people at the centre of this closure.

The MHC was recently accused by Government TD Neasa Hourigan of having its reports on Owenacurra “weaponised” by the HSE in order to ensure its closure.

Local councillor and prominent Owenacurra campaigner Liam Quaide said he knows clinicians who are “looking on bewildered” at the MHC's “bureaucratic detachment from the chaotic and retrograde service-plan for Owenacurra residents".

Asked about the families’ letter, a spokesperson for the MHC said it had conducted an inspection of Owenacurra two weeks ago.

They said that during that inspection the MHC’s inspectors had engaged with residents “who are our primary concern”, adding that report will eventually be published in full “in line with our policy of openness and transparency.