Fire-damaged hospital lands ‘should be given to State agencies’

Minister for Health Simon Harris has been urged to ask the HSE to offer a former psychiatric hospital damaged in a suspected arson attack in Cork to other State agencies if it has no use for the building.

Fine Gael Senator Colm Burke said that concern had been repeatedly expressed by public representatives about security at St Kevin's unit at Our Lady's Hospital on the Lee Road.

The five-storey red brick building, which is a listed structure, was badly damaged in a fire on Tuesday night which spread quickly and which gardaí suspect may have been started deliberately.

A number of youths were spotted fleeing the building by fire fighters as they arrived on the scene to battle the blaze, which destroyed several floors of the unoccupied former psychiatric hospital.

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Mr Burke said that he had contacted Minister Harris to ask him to request the HSE South to immediately secure the site boundaries to prevent unauthorised access to the property.

He said that he had also asked Mr Harris to ask the HSE South to prepare a plan as to how it proposes to use the land bank at Our Lady’s Hospital for future development.

"If the HSE have no requirement for these lands , I've asked that it would be made available to either Cork City Council or other State agencies for development," said Mr Burke.

“It has remained vacant, unoccupied and allowed fall into disrepair over the last 15 years and it is unfortunate now that major damage has been caused by the most recent fire.”

Act of vandalism

Mr Burke said he feared that a major portion of St Kevin’s would now have to be demolished, but that the building was destroyed by fire in an act of vandalism was no great surprise.

He said: “Numerous politicians and city council officials raised concerns about the security on the premises and also the future plans for the Hospital so there was element of foreseeability about this.

“That’s why it is extremely important and a matter of urgency that there is no further delay by the HSE South in coming to a decision as to the management of this now derelict site.”

According to the HSE, which owns St Kevin’s , there is no estimate yet for the damage caused by the fire at the building, which has been vacant since 2002.

The building was built in 1894 and catered for some 500 patients on the Our Lady’s Hospital campus, which had capacity for 1,200. Just prior to closure, it catered for just 40 patients.

According to a HSE statement, the building was deemed surplus to requirements and was recently offered to other Government departments but there have been no expression of interests to date.

“Pending confirmation from other Government departments, the HSE have recently engaged with an estate agent to discuss the potential of bringing the campus to the open market,” said the HSE.

According to the HSE, security measures have been reviewed since the fire and enhanced through the provision of a continuous security presence which will remain on site for the immediate future.

The HSE said structural engineers, once they are allowed by the fire service and An Garda Síochána, will evaluate by the protected building to assess the integrity of the structure.

"In the interim period, an exclusion zone will be created around St Kevin's building with the use of Heras fencing," said the HSE in a detailed response to a number of questions from The Irish Times.