HSE requested to 'come back to the table' on Teach na nDaoine
The HSE has been called on to 'do the right thing' and transfer the Teach na nDaoine project building in Kilcullen to Kildare County Council for community use, writes Brian Byrne. Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer made the request while speaking on KFM Radio about the reported plans by the health authority to sell the building at market price.
Speaking to Eoin Beatty on the Kildare Today programme, (from 15'30" on this link), the councillor said the premises could be used not just as a day centre for older people as already envisaged, but also for after-school care and other community uses, including a possibility as a 'home' for Kilcullen Community Action.
She reminded the programme's listeners that Kilcullen had already invested more than €164,000 in refurbishing and expanding what had been a derelict former dispensary building, 'surplus to requirements' to the HSE. She also noted that similar transfers had been made by the health authority in other areas, citing the former dispensary in Monasterevin as being a possible example. She reiterated that Kildare County Council had no funds to buy the property at open market prices, but would be prepared to pay a nominal charge.
Funding of €180,000 from Local Property Tax has been secured to finish bringing the building up to code for use as an older persons centre, she said, adding that 25 people from the Kilcullen area were being brought to the day care centre in Newbridge every Thursday and Friday, where there was also a waitlist. "It makes no sense for me that we have people going from Kilcullen to Newbridge when we could potentially have the same facility in Kilcullen and free up that waitlist at the same time."
Cllr O'Dwyer said she had been negotiating over the last two years between the HSE and the council and at no time was buying the building proposed until recent weeks. "So to be this close to making it happen, and then to be suddenly aware that estate agents are just waiting on an instruction to put it to market, it is really just the wrong thing to do."
Restating the urgent need for such a community building in Kilcullen, where the population is growing, she told Eoin Beatty that the reaction has been unanimous, and local people are "just up in arms about this."
She expressed her disappointment that the HSE hasn't responded to multiple requests for clarification on the issue, and said they need to 'come back to the table and engage meaningfully' to do the right thing. "The right thing here is to transfer the building to Kildare County Council for community use, and I really hope that's what they do."
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