Why is this idle? - Addiction treatment centre

IRELAND’S ineffectual attitude to the countrywide drugs problem is symbolised by the inexplicable delay in opening a treatment centre in Cork.

A decade has passed since a three-storey former bed and breakfast, close to the heart of Cork city was earmarked by the well-known addiction treatment charity Cuan Mhuire, for development as a post addiction facility for homeless men. Almost 10 years later, the property is equipped but still lying idle.

Everything looks shipshape but like the mystery of the Marie Celeste, there is something eerie about this story. The beds are dressed as if someone intended sleeping in them. The pillows are fluffy, the duvets soft and comfortable, the towels neatly folded. Apparently, blame for the failure to open this ideally placed facility on the leafy western fringes of the city, cannot be placed at the door of local people.