‘More urgency’ needed over vacant buildings at St Ita’s hospital campus in Portrane
A councillor has called for a “greater sense of urgency” to acquire vacant buildings at St Ita’s hospital campus in Portrane, north county Dublin, and to put them to public use.
The active Dublin health campus has a number of old vacant buildings that are no longer fit for purpose. The HSE is currently identifying surplus sites that could be used for other purposes.
Responding to queries, Fingal County Council confirmed it is working with the HSE to develop the campus, but added “the process is ongoing and has not yet reached a conclusion”.
However, Fine Gael councillor Eoghan Dockrell believes progress has been too slow on the issue.
“Given how the population of Donabate and Portrane is likely to balloon to over 20,000 people by the end of the decade, Fingal County Council should be acting with a greater sense of urgency to ensure vacant buildings on St Ita’s campus are put back into public use,” he said.
“I’ve spent the last few weeks speaking to council officials about this and asking them for updates.
“They’ve told me they are in the process of tendering for a consultant to review and update the feasibility study prepared on St Ita’s campus in 2013.”
Mr Dockrell said the existing findings are still relevant today and added the review would need a strict timeline so it’s completed on time.
The 2013 feasibility study concluded that the land could be put to new uses including, residential, cultural, commercial and educational buildings that could “resemble a small town”.
“There’s a significant shortage of indoor community space in Donabate and Portrane,” Mr Dockrell said.
“St Ita’s campus has several vacant buildings, of varying sizes, that could be used by the dozens of community groups currently looking to rent out space.
“The concern now is that Fingal County Council isn’t acting with sufficient urgency to ensure it acquires these buildings before the HSE decides to sell them on the open market.
“A national memorandum of understanding should be put in place between the HSE and Office of Public Works where vacant buildings on the St Ita’s campus are identified and made available to Fingal County Council.
“I have been in contact with the Minister for Health’s department on this matter, as well as putting down motions at council meetings, advocating for this proposal to be progressed so that people in north county Dublin can benefit from more much needed community space.”
The HSE confirmed that some areas of the site have been identified as surplus to its own requirements and have been placed on the Office of Public Works (OPW) registrar.
It added: “Expressions of Interest have been received from state agencies, and the HSE is engaging with these.”