TWO Fianna Fail TDs in Galway have expressed opposing views on plans to site a "halfway house" treatment centre for alcoholic women close to Galway city.

The party's health spokeswoman, Mrs Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, is among a number of objectors to plans by Horizon Halfway House Ltd to open the centre at Woodfield, Cappagh Road, near Barna. The registered charity has been granted planning permission by Galway Corporation to operate for two years and is due to cater for 12 residents at a time.

Mrs Geoghegan-Quinn is a resident of the Woodfield estate and has objected to the development "in a private capacity" in a letter to Galway Corporation.

Her constituency colleague, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, said yesterday he had no difficulty" with the centre. "I have met the proposers and I think there is a misunderstanding because of the terms used," he said. "Where there is a reference to chemical addiction what is meant is addiction to alcohol and barbiturates pre scribed drugs. It is basically for women who have suffered from alcoholism, as they frequently become dependent on prescribed drugs also."

Mr O Cuiv said he had "no comment" to make on the stance taken by Mrs Geoghegan-Quinn, who lives on the same estate as the proposed centre. But he said Horizon Halfway House Ltd had a worthwhile case.

Mrs Geoghegan-Quinn said she, along with every other resident in Woodfield, had written to the corporation objecting to the centre. It was a private matter. "I don't think it's any of your business, or anybody else's business for that matter," she said. She stressed she was not a party to an appeal to An Bord Pleanla, heard in Galway on Thursday.

Asked if the affair might prove a political embarrassment to her, as health spokeswoman for Fianna Fail, Mrs Geoghegan-Quinn replied: "Not a bit." The "first crucial ingredient" for any such scheme was acceptance in the local community. "That acceptance is not there."

Residents' groups in Galway told the Bord Pleanla hearing earlier this week that they were not opposed to the concept of a new treatment centre for women recovering from alcoholism and prescribed drug dependency. However, they were against it being located in a residential area.

The facility has not received State funding but the concept has been supported by the Department of Health, its founder, Ms Carmel O'Dwyer Campbell, told the hearing. Ms O'Dwyer Campbell, a psychiatric nurse and counsellor, said it would benefit from money raised in the US and from a charity shop.

In seeking to establish a treatment centre, she had contacted the then Minister for Justice, Mrs Geoghegan-Quinn, who had been very helpful. Mrs Geoghegan-Quinn had made representations to the Western Health Board, which later gave the centre a small grant.

There would be strict control of the centre and no drugs would be allowed other than drugs pre scribed for medication by a doctor. No alcohol would be allowed, she said.

Sister Eileen Fahey, of Aiseiri Centre in Cahir, Co Tipperary, an acute addiction centre, said her facility was in a residential area and there had never been a complaint about it in 13 years.

A representative of Woodfield/ Cappagh Road Residents Association, Mr Declan Dooley, said that while they were not against the concept, they were opposed to its location.

A matter of grave concern, he said, was that it would "attract unknown people" from all over the country to visit those staying in the house, "many of whom would be from problem settings".

While management would have control over what happened within, they had no control over what could happen outside. "This is a totally new type of centre in this country. The residents of the area feel they should not be used as guinea pigs for a total unknown entity."

Mr Dooley said the residents had reservations about the accountability and responsibility for drugs at the premises, which is a converted guesthouse. Local residents were 100 per cent against it, he claimed.