KCC confirms interest in acquiring Teach na nDaoine for community use
Kildare County Council has confirmed that it is interested in acquiring the Teach na nDaoine premises from the HSE and to support the continued use of the facility for the community of Kilcullen and surrounding areas, writes Brian Byrne. However, the transfer would have to be at a nominal fee, as a significant further financial investment would be needed to ensure its use as a valuable community space.
In a response to a query from the Diary, the council says it is aware of the proposal by the HSE to sell the property, and notes that public and community funding has already been invested in it. Provision for its purchase has not been included in the council's Capital Delivery Programme, but it would welcome a transfer from the HSE for a nominal fee which would then allow the required remedial works to be carried out.
In anticipation of such a transfer, Kildare Newbridge MD members have provisionally set aside Local Property Tax funding to contribute towards the required works and to allow the continued community use of this facility.
The council says it would be happy 'to work with its partners in the HSE' to retain this facility for the community, but capital costs are a key consideration.
The response follows a HSE statement to KFM radio last Friday evening, following an interview with Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer. The statement claimed that the health authority had 'engaged with all relevant state stakeholders (including Kildare County Council) around potential intra-state transfer' of the property but that 'no other state stakeholders intend to acquire the property'. The statement added that, failing such a transfer, it will now proceed to dispose of the property at open market sale.
Cllr O'Dwyer, speaking to Eoin Beatty about the previously reported plans by the HSE to sell the building, had called on it to 'do the right thing' and transfer it to the council for community use. The councillor said the premises could be used not just as a day centre for older people as initially envisaged, but also for after-school care and other community uses. She had earlier outlined a long period of negotiating the matter between the health authority and the council and said that at no time was buying the property proposed until recent weeks.
The building had been a derelict former dispensary until 2017 when a local voluntary committee leased it from the HSE and over subsequent years spent €164,407 refurbishing and extending it, using grants, community fundraising, and donation of time and expertise by local people. The committee handed it back to the HSE late last year because they didn't have the governance or the expertise to manage the facility for their purpose as a seniors centre. It was understood at the time that future use would be under the HSE's Older Persons department. However, in its recent statement, the health authority said an internal review had concluded that the building was no longer required for medical services.
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