PAC to carry out in-depth investigation into closure of East Cork's Owenacurra

The Public Accounts Committee on Thursday agreed to call HSE management before it to answer questions on the closure of Owenacurra and the wider decision-making processes. Picture: Howard Crowdy

An Oireachtas committee has agreed to undertake an in-depth investigation into the closure of the Owenacurra centre in east Cork.

Residents were first informed last June that the centre was going to be closed by October 2021 due to building issues, but that date was pushed back as the HSE couldn’t find suitable accommodation for the 19 residents.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday agreed to call HSE management before it to answer questions on the closure of the centre and the wider decision-making processes.

A report presented to PAC members said the closure of the Owenacurra Centre is "unjustified on grounds of service provision needs in East Cork for a very vulnerable client group".

"The HSE has spent extravagant amounts in other parts of Cork on a vacant facility without planning permission (Glenwood House) and on a rental property (Garnish House) which they won’t retain as an asset while they have neglected to invest in the Owenacurra Centre. 

"The excessive rental costs associated with Garnish House could have been averted if HSE management had either applied for planning retention for Glenwood House much sooner and/or renovated Millfield House. Those rental costs continue to accumulate.

"These investment patterns are highly incoherent and contradictory. They have impacted significantly on a very vulnerable group of people whose service provision is subject to traumatic upheaval and prolonged uncertainty."

'You can't move people around like on a chess board'

Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan said the HSE should be called in to answer questions about decisions made around not just the closure of Owenacurra, but across the health service.

Ms Hourigan said the executive makes decisions on the basis of "buildings but not services" when deciding which services to close.

"You can't move people around like on a chess board. These are people's lives. We're only doing cost-benefit analysis by building and we're not looking at these buildings as communities.

"The question for the HSE is are they ok with this on a national basis? Are we going to continue to do cost-benefit analysis on a piecemeal basis?"

Ms Hourigan said previous responses by the HSE showed there was "bits and bobs and investments here and rental there". 

Committee chair Brian Stanley said that there was a "carbon copy" of the Owenacurra situation in south Laois. Ms Hourigan said she wanted to hear from HSE management and the heads of the relevant regions because "granular questions" are often unanswered.

Labour's Alan Kelly said the issue was something the PAC "should be getting their teeth into". He said policies differed by health organisation region, which is "a whim more than anything".

Fine Gael's Colm Burke said he "does not know how there is such a variation in how cases are managed".

Mr Stanley agreed to the proposal that a list of questions be submitted to the HSE, as well as examining mental health services in Cork and the midlands.