Results 5,221-5,240 of 7,412 for speaker:Neasa Hourigan

Joint Committee On Health: General Scheme of the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: I want to touch on a number of areas but will start with a question that follows on from other sessions that we have had. It is not something that came up in the opening statements of either group today but I would like to get feedback from them on it. I will start with Mr. Barry and Mr. Geiran. The issue is multidisciplinary mental health teams, which we discussed with the Irish Medical...

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: I will return to the issue of Owenacurra. As we have heard from Deputies who spoke previously, Owenacurra is being closed. There are currently 11 residents there. The Joint Committee on Health went on a site visit to Owenacurra on Monday last and met with the families and the residents, who are quite distressed. In 2020, there was a capital plan from the HSE that assigned €145,000...

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: I accept that, sorry. My question is, between the issuing of the capital plan in 2020 for €145,000 to bring it up to standard and the decision to close it and put the 19 people either in the community or into other congregated settings, and it seems the vast majority are certainly not moving into a community setting, was there a stand alone new building survey in relation to asbestos...

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: So that Mr. Curran knows, there was not.

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Fair enough. Just so that we are clear then: in the context of the decision to close the facility, the reasons cited were the existence of asbestos and the small room size. The other options for 24-hour high-dependency beds in the Cork area are in St. Catherine's ward in St. Finbarr's Hospital and in St. Stephen's Hospital. Do they comply with best practice for room size requirement as set...

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: So they do not.

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Sorry to cut across, Mr, Curran, but I have just visited Owenacurra, where most of the bedrooms, in fact all of the bedrooms that are occupied, are en suite. Is there also asbestos in the buildings at St. Catherine's and St. Stephen's?

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: To be clear, in none of the building reports to do with Owenacurra is there any implication the asbestos in the building is disturbed or open. As anyone who has worked in the construction industry knows, asbestos, once it is disturbed, is highly dangerous. There is no suggestion the Owenacurra asbestos is open and dangerous currently.

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: I do not want to scare residents who are there at present. The HSE recently announced that it will close Owenacurra but redo wards in St. Stephen's and that it will redo St. Catherine's. Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out between the cost of retrofitting and construction to a single-storey building such as that at Owenacurra as opposed to a multistorey building such as at St....

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: That is a useful number. We asked for a note on Owenacurra in the run-up to this meeting. In the note, we received only maintenance numbers. Is there a particular reason we have received none of the details on the capital costs?

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: We asked whether money was spent on Owenacurra in terms of capital costs. The position is that the HSE has not provided us with these numbers because no money was spent on Owenacurra.

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: We are speaking about capital costs. The HSE does not seem to have provided any information. I am aware that millions have been spent on congregated settings that have multiperson wards, which is in complete contradiction of our national mental health policy, in locations such as St. Stephen's Hospital.

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Unlike St. Stephen's, Owenacurra is a single-person facility. We asked for details on the spending over the past ten years on facilities such as this. I am aware that something in the region of €400,000 has been spent on it while millions were spent on other facilities. The HSE has not provided this today.

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Can we unpack this €8 million? It is an extraordinary sum for a single-storey building on a site with plenty of room to manoeuvre. I visited the site. There is quite a bit of space around it in terms of a construction proposal. Owenacurra was a 24-bed facility and two of the rooms were three-person rooms. Let us bring it down to 20 individual rooms. Mr. Curran's contention is...

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: That is an extraordinary sum. I would love to see the numbers.

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: For how many people?

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: For how many units? How many units are we speaking about?

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: In a single-storey facility?

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Requiring-----

Public Accounts Committee: Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020 (10 Mar 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Without seeing the planning proposal and the accommodation numbers, I do not accept €8 million as a figure. That is out of whack with any construction cost even given the level of inflation we see at present. I want to move to the issue of Carrigaline.