Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I stated, in 2016 there were a few leaks in the building and cracks in the ceiling, and there was some plasterwork to be done. The estimated cost was €1,000 to do the cracks, €3,000 to repair the ceilings, €3,000 to fix the leaks and so on and €300 or so to put in a sink. Those are minuscule amounts of money. Those figures date from 2016, when the HSE had not spent money on the place. I have spoken to many people on this.

I agree with Senator Buttimer with regard to the HSE but I wish to touch on the issue of the Mental Health Commission. The spin from the HSE is that it is the commission's fault that the building is being closed. However, reports prepared by the commission each year from 2016 to 2020, inclusive, and three reports in 2021 outlined the structural deficiencies within the building or premises. The commission has been telling the HSE since 2016 that the building is not right and needs to be fixed. To draw a comparison, if you bring a car for its national car test, NCT, and it fails, you will get a snag list. When you fix those snags and bring it back to the NCT centre, the car will pass the test as it is roadworthy and fit for purpose. The HSE failed in that regard.

There are buildings similar to this one across the country. One could start naming all the towns in east Cork that have similar buildings. They were all built at around the same time, in the 1970s. If the commission were to inspect those buildings, it would say they are not fit for purpose. Are we facing a tsunami of closures of centres?

When this issue broke, a thing the members of the Owenacurra Centre said that resonates with me was not to move them, but to improve them. That is the most important point.

It was a simple request from the centre's residents and their families. Why would the Mental Health Commission not go into the centre? It is the organisation that calls out construction snags, in that it goes into a place, investigates and says what was wrong with it so that it can then be fixed and everything will work. The HSE claims that it is because of the Mental Health Commission's report that the HSE has to close the building.