NO date has yet been decided for site clearance or construction work to commence on a new community nursing unit and residential care facility in Killarney which had been promised for this year.
The matter was raised by Cllr Niall Kelleher at an online meeting of the HSE South West this Thursday when he asked officials when was the project likely to start and for a detailed timeline.
He said given the need for the facility in the town, people are understandably anxious for work to commence and he said he hoped it could be expedited if at all possible.
HSE officials, in reply, said tenders for the contract have been published but they are not in a position to give a date as of yet.
KillarneyToday.com first revealed four years ago that the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive had a five-year plan to build the facility to replace the existing Killarney Community Hospital which has recently been criticised by HIQA for lacking adequate space and facilities.
The HSE has been granted planning permission for the new 10,045sq m facility on a section of land within the former St Finan’s Hospital complex.
The proposed development will include 130 en-suite bedrooms with 30 rooms reserved for residents with dementia.
The plans also include dining rooms, kitchenettes, day rooms, a spacious treatment room, a hairdressing salon, a laundry, an overnight room for families and a visitors’ room.
Provision is also being made for internal courtyards and first floor terraces, kitchens, staff accommodation, office space and parking for 195 vehicles.
When work does start, the planned development will have a new access road from Upper Lewis Road to include a revised internal roadway.
Permission has also been granted for the demolition of two existing farm buildings on the site, landscaping, the provision of an ESB substation and a new waste storage area.
The site earmarked for the new development was previously used by Killarney Celtic FC, in agreement with the HSE, and it runs alongside a section of the Killarney bypass road just beyond the turn-off for Fitzgerald Stadium.
While the project will be based within the sprawling St Finan’s site at Ballydribbeen, no works are proposed for the actual hospital building, constructed in 1846, which is a protected structure.
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