'Unfit' Cork mental health facility reopens despite €1.3m spend on replacement property
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An "unfit for purpose" Cork mental health facility previously marked for closure has reopened, despite €1.3m having been spent by the HSE on a replacement property which remains unused.
Millfield House in Blackpool has now officially welcomed back 10 residents from a rented facility at Garnish House in Cork City, with its revamp costing €586,000, a response to a parliamentary question from Green TD Neasa Hourigan revealed.
That figure, coupled with the more than €900,000 spent on providing private security for Millfield House after its vacation at the onset of covid-19, means just under €1.5m has been spent maintaining and refurbishing a property the HSE valued at just €630,000 in 2020.
Meanwhile, a further €1.3m has been spent on the purchase and renovation of former B&B Glenwood House in Carrigaline, a property which has never reopened since being purchased by the HSE in January 2021.
Glenwood House was first slated as a replacement for Millfield House in the HSE’s 2021 capital plan, with the Carrigaline property set to be redeployed as a residential mental health facility “replacing existing unfit for purpose HSE owned dwelling (Millfield House High Support Hostel)”.
Regarding the reopening of Millfield, a HSE spokesperson said the residents of the facility had said “the refurbishment project has transformed their lives and is empowering them to live much more independent lives”.
“The investment in Millfield House and the two new apartments are offering residents a much higher standard of accommodation and allow us to provide an exceptional level of rehabilitative care, meeting the needs of the residents,” they said.
The spokesperson would not be drawn, however, as to what purpose Glenwood House is to be used, noting the building had been the subject of an appeal to An Bord Pleanála regarding its application for a change to its designated usage, with that permission finally having been granted last October.
“We are currently reviewing the future use of Glenwood House,” the spokesperson said, similar to the response given when the made the same query last March.
Glenwood was bought from the sister of the then head of mental health services for Cork/Kerry and was once envisaged as a replacement for the Owenacurra mental health facility in Midleton, slated for closure in June 2021, and some 30km from Carrigaline.
Local Social Democrats councillor for east Cork Liam Quaide, a prominent advocate for the local campaign to save the Owenacurra service, said the HSE’s decision-making surrounding Glenwood House, Millfield House and Garnish House was “remarkably concerning”.
“It's perplexing that Millfield House is now re-opened after renovations costing less than half of the entire spend on Glenwood House, which remains vacant three and a half years later,” Mr Quaide said.