The HSE’s proposal to invest €64m developing a 50-bed residential mental health service on the grounds of St. Stephen’s Hospital, Glanmire, is an attempt to move back to the dark ages of service provision, according to Social Democrats mental health spokesperson Liam Quaide.
Deputy Quaide said:
“It is entirely at odds with the progressive trend that has been core to every mental health policy since Planning for the Future in the 1980s of supporting people with severe mental health difficulties to integrate in their communities.
“It will lock in vast amounts of public money to a centralised, isolated service that should be spent on community-integrated settings in towns such as Cobh and Clonakilty, where currently none exist.
“When I joined the North Cork mental health services as a psychologist in 2013, the Rehabilitation and Recovery team in that region was helping many long-stay patients of St. Stephen’s Hospital to re-integrate back into their communities in residences in Fermoy, Mallow and Kanturk.
“That North Cork team is an exemplar of the direction we need to take towards progressive service development. This proposal is entirely at odds with that trend.
“The HSE have emphasised that the buildings – which will be five bungalows – will not be institutional in design. But a home is about much more than a building, it is about the broader community in which a person is embedded.
“The land around St. Stephen’s is zoned for agricultural use. The land directly across from it is zoned for light industry and is the location of a warehouse. The nearest shop of any description to St. Stephen’s – a 1.7km walk from the entrance of the hospital – is a service station. The first kilometer of this route has no footpath and there are no plans by Cork City Council to develop one.
“The nearest grocery shop is in Riverstown, which is a 40 minute walk away from St. Stephen’s Hospital. Again, the first kilometer is without a footpath. There are no community amenities within walking distance of St. Stephen’s and no plans to develop any. These residents typically do not drive, and some have mobility issues.
“This proposal therefore does not remotely reflect the kind of community integration espoused by A Vision for Change or Sharing the Vision or the HSE’s own Policy for People with Severe and Enduring Mental Illness and Complex Needs. It is also at odds with the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities which enshrines the right of people with disabilities to live in their community. There is no parallel for such a service development nationally in recent decades for this client group.
“St. Stephen’s is a fine location for an elective hospital and acute mental health admissions – it is not a suitable place for people to live over a period of years, and in some cases, for the rest of their lives. Centralising these residential placements in St. Stephen’s will disconnect people from their communities, because a service of that size will take people in from a broad catchment area.
“I’m appealing to Bernard Gloster to redirect this funding to smaller scale community-integrated residences, as set out in our national mental health policies.”
4th July, 2025