Killarney hospitals currently used for elderly care being assessed for primary care centre

The HSE has revealed it is advancing plans for a primary care centre for child and adult medical and mental health services

Killarney’s municipal councillors revoked permission for Áras Phádraig, a €47m six-storey primary care centre, three-storey theatre, and plaza on Lewis Road, having approved the plan in April 2024.

Two hospitals in Killarney currently used for elderly care are being assessed for suitability as a long-awaited primary care centre for the town, the HSE has revealed.

The move follows the rejection of multi-million euro plans by Killarney councillors for a combined primary care and theatre site on a council-owned site on the Lewis Road in Killarney in July.

The council spent almost €1m on plans for the Áras Phádraig site on the Lewis Road, with the HSE's plans for a six-storey primary care centre seen as critical in order to draw down some €16m urban regeneration funding, it emerged subsequently.

The total investment, including Kerry County Council, HSE, and regeneration funding grant aid was to be €47m.

However, councillors in Killarney voted against giving planning for the joint HSE and council project. Opposition had mounted against the use of council-owned property for the HSE, as the health authority owns several sites already around the town.

The HSE has now revealed it is advancing plans for a primary care centre for child and adult medical and mental health services following the “setback” earlier this summer.

“The HSE fully recognises the ongoing need for a primary care centre in Killarney, particularly following the setback related to the planning application for the Áras Phádraig site,” it said in a statement to Killarney councillor and health forum member Marie Moloney.

“To mitigate further risk and to ensure the long-term sustainability and optimal location of this essential facility, the HSE has commenced a detailed feasibility study of the Columbanus Hospital and District Hospital sites in Killarney,” it said.

St Columbanus, and the nearby District hospitals are both to be vacated next year following the transfer of patients to the new but delayed Killarney community nursing unit. The 130-bed unit was due to open in January 2025, but it will now be mid-2026, it is expected.

Built as a public-private partnership, the unit has yet to be handed over to the HSE and will then have to be inspected by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) before patients from Columbanus and the District can be transferred.

Elderly patients in Killarney are being asked to go to Cork, Limerick and even Offaly, while the new hospital remains idle, a meeting heard last week.

Killarney councillors have defended their rejection of the plans for the Áras Phádraig site.

“The project is not dead in the water. We want to see a combined library, exhibition space, and administrative building alongside a new theatre in the Áras Phádraig,” Ms Moloney said.

Killarney councillor John O’Donoghue also defended the councillors’ decision to reject the plans, saying they have gone back with an alternative. 

This article was funded by the Local Democracy Scheme