Calls for community mental health hub to be included in St Patrick’s campus in Lucan
A call has been made for a dedicated community mental health hub to be included in plans for a major expansion of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services campus in Lucan.
The proposed expansion at St Edmundsbury Hospital would increase inpatient capacity from 52 beds to 214, including 200 adult beds and a 14-bed adolescent unit.
The project, planned for an 8.1-hectare site would be delivered over a 10-year period if approved.
As the application has been lodged as a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID), South Dublin County Council is not the decision-making authority. Instead, councillors discussed recommendations at their July full meeting that have been attached to the chief executive’s report and submitted to An Coimisiún Pleanála, which will make the final decision.
Speaking at the meeting, Fine Gael councillor Caroline Brady called for the development to include a community mental health facility alongside the inpatient services.
While welcoming elements of the proposal, including a public café, walking routes, gardens and the economic benefits of the development, she said “the one thing that is missing is actually a public-facing, non-clinical mental health facility.”
“At the moment, if you’re in South Dublin County and you need to access those, you have to go outside the county,” she said.
She suggested setting aside space for a Solace Café, workshops and programmes focused on suicide prevention, mental health and general wellbeing.
“I think this is potentially transformative for Lucan and for the wider county.”
Cllr Brady added that Lucan already has a long association with mental health services, pointing to the histories of St Edmundsbury Hospital, St Loman’s Hospital, Pieta and other local organisations.
CGI of the new adolescent care facility
Fianna Fáil councillor Emma Murphy backed the proposal for a community facility but warned against it becoming a “tokenistic” addition to the development.
“My worry would be how binding this can be. The last thing I would want is for something of this nature, that would be game-changing, to end up being a room in a corner within the facility,” she said.
“The non-clinical components of mental health are something we don’t talk about enough. We’re always looking for bed spaces and inpatient spaces, but it’s about dealing with mental health before it reaches the point of clinical intervention.
“I would not want to see an opportunity like this wasted.”
Independent councillor Liona O’Toole said the recommendation would allow for future collaboration with “whichever public community mental health provider is most appropriate”.
Meanwhile Director of Planning and Transport Eoin Burke told councillors the site is zoned for high amenity uses and that a hospital is not ordinarily permitted under the zoning.
However, he said the proposal qualifies as a “non-conforming use” under the County Development Plan.
The application was lodged with An Coimisiún Pleanála on May 6. The plans also include the refurbishment and modernisation of the site’s protected 19th-century Georgian buildings, together with new clinical, staff and support facilities, demolition works and associated infrastructure.
Public open space, therapeutic gardens, parking and landscaping also form part of the proposal.
An Coimisiún Pleanála is expected to make a decision on the application by October 26.