05-07-2025
HSE's Glanmire mental health plan a ‘move back to the dark ages'
Liam Quaide, mental health spokesperson for the Social Democrats and a psychologist himself, called the €64m plan 'a move back to the dark ages of service provision.'
'St. Stephen's is a fine location for an elective hospital and acute mental health admissions - it is not a suitable place for people to live over a period of years, and in some cases, for the rest of their lives,' Deputy Quaide said.
St. Stephen's Hospital is located close to the village of Glanmire, about seven kilometres from Cork city. Originally opened as a TB hospital in 1954, it now primarily provides mental health services. The HSE has said the new development would consist of five bungalows and wouldn't be institutional in design.
Deputy Quaide believes that centralising residential placements in St. Stephen's will disconnect people from their communities.
'It is entirely at odds with the progressive trend that has been core to every mental health policy since Planning for the Future in the 1980s of supporting people with severe mental health difficulties to integrate in their communities.
'It will lock in vast amounts of public money to a centralised, isolated service that should be spent on community-integrated settings in towns such as Cobh and Clonakilty, where currently none exist.'
The East Cork TD pointed out that the land around St. Stephen's is zoned for agricultural and light industry use and the nearest shop – a service station – is 1.7 km away with no footpath for the first kilometre. The nearest grocery store is in Riverstown, which is a 40-minute walk from the hospital.
'There are no community amenities within walking distance of St. Stephen's and no plans to develop any. These residents typically do not drive, and some have mobility issues,' he said.
'When I joined the North Cork mental health services as a psychologist in 2013, the Rehabilitation and Recovery team in that region was helping many long-stay patients of St. Stephen's Hospital to re-integrate back into their communities in residences in Fermoy, Mallow and Kanturk.
"That North Cork team is an exemplar of the direction we need to take towards progressive service development. This proposal is entirely at odds with that trend.'
Deputy Quaide has called on the HSE to redirect the funding to smaller scale community-integrated residences.
