Under the Health (Amendment) (No 3) Act 1996 the Minister for Health and Children no longer has a statutory role in the acquisition or disposal of property by health boards. This function is now a reserved function of each health board. I am informed by the Mid-Western Health Board that the sale referred to by the Deputy was approved at a meeting of the board held in September 1998. The property, comprising of Our Lady's Psychiatric Hospital and adjoining lands, was sold by the board to Shannon Free Airport Development Company Limited for a consideration of £2.44 million and a property of approximately six acres in Killaloe, County Clare. Contracts between the parties were signed in December 1998, following which £2.44 million was lodged by the purchaser with a bank.
I am further informed by the health board that in September 1997, the Land Valuation Office valued the property in the region of £2.5 million, excluding the church, an area for respond housing and an area retained by the board. It appears that the proceeds of the disposal of Our Lady's Hospital and lands were in line with that valuation. I understand that the proceeds of the sale have since been re-invested by the Mid-Western Health Board in developing the Clare mental health services, which have been improved significantly in recent years.
The mental health services now emerging in County Clare can be regarded as being on a par with, if not better than, those available elsewhere. The new acute psychiatric unit at Ennis General Hospital opened in December 2001. Built at a cost of €5.7 million, the unit provides acute psychiatric in-patient services for the Clare region in a modern, state-of-the-art facility. With the closure of Our Lady's Hospital, alternative facilities for 180 long-stay patients have been provided by the health board at the refurbished Cappahard Nursing Home, at Spanish Point and at the Orchard High Support Hostel in Kilrush. Community based services in Clare have been further enhanced in the past year through the employment of additional nursing and medical staff and the development of home based and intervention models of care. A new day centre opened in Scarriff in January 2002.
Additional information.
The closure and sale of Our Lady's Hospital, Ennis, the location of a new psychiatric unit on the grounds of the acute hospital and the development of a range of alternative community facilities was fully in keeping with national policy on the development of mental health services. It was also in line with the Mid-Western Health Board's plan for the development of its mental health services, A Better Way.