HSE to spend €814k housing three Owenacurra residents in flood-prone area

Property in Lauriston area of Midleton purchased for €448,500, with additional refurbishment costs estimated at more than €365k

The HSE first announced its intention to close Owenacurra in June 2021, and just six of the original 20 occupants remain in the East Cork facility.

The HSE is to spend €814,000 on accommodating three residents of the Owenacurra mental health facility in a refurbished house in an area prone to flooding.

The HSE agreed to purchase the property in the Lauriston area of Midleton for €448,500, with additional refurbishment estimated to cost €365,218.

Residents of Lauriston Park estate had to evacuate from their homes in 2016 during a period of acute flooding.

The HSE first announced its intention to close Owenacurra in June 2021, and just six of the original 20 occupants remain in the East Cork facility.

The HSE partially attributed the closure to the fact the centre was “falling significantly short of the Government’s climate action plan requirements”. 

However, the closure and the movement of its residents to other facilities, has proven extremely unpopular locally, amid claims the reasons given for the closure were flawed.

Asked how that climate action plan tallies with moving residents to a home at high risk of flooding, the HSE said “a very large area of the town of Midleton is located on a flood plain”.

“The risk of flooding in the particular location is outweighed by the suitability of the building’s location for the purposes of providing convenient access to the town’s facilities,” a general manager in mental health services for the Cork-Kerry region told Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan.

“Hence, the purchase of the said dwelling was considered appropriate and an opportunity to provide mental health services local to the people of Midleton,” they said.

Local Green councillor and prominent Owenacurra advocate Liam Quaide said “the provision of just three 24-hour staffed placements for all of East Cork is a fraction of what is required”.

“If that €814,000 had been invested in Owenacurra it would have gone a long way towards reinforcing a thriving service. This purchase seems a reactive move with no clear service-plan guiding it, Mr Quaide added.

The executive had been repeatedly non-committal since last December, when the purchase of the Lauriston property was first mooted, as to whether or not the new house would accommodate three or four residents.

The suggested refurbishment costs relate to a requirement to upgrade the building to a Building Energy Rating of A3 in compliance with community dwelling guidelines.

The same HSE manager said as the building is to be used as a community dwelling, it is exempt from the need for a planning application.

While the upgrade costs are estimated at €365,000, another similar recent HSE upgrade project at Glenwood House in Carrigaline eventually doubled its budgeted refurbishment spend of €250,000 to €500,000.