8 hours ago
HSE 'fully committed' to developing primary care centre on council-owned car park in Killarney
The HSE has said it is 'fully committed' to developing a controversial primary care centre on a council-owned car park in Killarney, despite the fact it owns 14 vacant properties in key locations across Kerry.
The provision of a primary care facility on the grounds of Áras Phádraig, a council-owned site donated by the Franscicsan Friars, is part of a joint venture between the HSE and Kerry County Council.
The plan was given the go ahead by councillors at a meeting of the Killarney Municipal District in April when they were told the €21m project, which includes a theatre, would not get funding approval without the HSE primary care facility.
However, the project will have to be voted on again after a number of submissions from the public were omitted.
Kerry County Council has apologised for the mistake, re advertised, and the matter is expected to come before the municipal district later this summer.
However, existing traffic congestion on the Lewis Rd, the small size of the theatre (230 seats), its nearness to the health centre, the proposed height of the building, and the loss of parking spaces, means the project has sparked some opposition in the town.
Questions have also been raised over the fact the HSE owns a number of sites and property in Killarney which are vacant or about to be vacated.
St Finan's former psychiatric hospital overlooking Killarney has been empty since 2012.
Labour councillor Marie Moloney told the regional health forum that: 'A lot of people believe it is the wrong place. The public don't understand why the HSE, with so much land, would need the site for a primary care centre.'
In response, the HSE said it was 'fully committed' to the project.
'There has been a number of previous attempts to provide a primary care facility in Killarney, with little positive results on the same,' said Julie O'Neill, integrated healthcare manager Kerry, HSE South West.
'Both the HSE and Kerry County Council officials are of the opinion that the provision of the theatre and a primary care facility on the same site in an urban setting will be complementary to each development from a planning and sustainability view point,' she said in a written reply.
Meanwhile, the full extent of the vacant property owned by the HSE in Kerry was released following a query by Sinn Féin councillor Deirdre Ferris.
Some 14 HSE-owned properties are currently vacant, it has emerged.
These include, town centre buildings in Tralee, at Pembroke St and Denny St; the old Dingle Hospital and Workhouse; the St Finan's hospital, land, and gate House in Killarney; health centres in Dingle, Kenmare, Ballinskelligs, Waterville, and Rathmore, as well as radio stations in Knocknagoshel in the north of the county and Clahane in the west.
'The HSE is currently working through the Land Development Agency and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP delivery and reform processes for the disposal of properties which are surplus to requirements,' Daniel Clifford, director of estates department, HSE South West, said in a written reply.
They will be sold if there is no public use for them, the meeting was told.
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