Builder who worked on stalled Ballyhaunis Primary Care Centre is now working on primary care centre in Portumna

A developer who stopped working on the primary care centre in Ballyhaunis is currently working on a new primary care centre in Co Galway.

Sharpdale Ltd, who stopped construction on Ballyhaunis Primary Care Centre in May 2021, are currently undertaking work at a primary care centre in Dominic Street in Portumna.

Work ceased on the Ballyhaunis Primary Care Centre after the project became no longer economically viable. The facility was developed through the operational lease mechanism.

Under this arrangement, the HSE enters into agreement with a developer to build a primary care centre. The HSE then leases the building for a fixed period.

Several such primary care centres have been delivered through such a model throughout the country.

When opened, Ballyhaunis Primary Care Centre was due to provide nursing, physiotherapy, dentistry and home support. It was due to be operational in the final quarter of 2021.

A public meeting of almost 30 people in Ballyhaunis Community Centre last Wednesday heard concerns regarding the stalled project.

The meeting was told that existing GP surgeries in Ballyhaunis were ‘full up’ while one attendee claimed that the site was ‘inadequate’ for the size of the project.

One man who lives across from the site said unattended scaffolding at the site posing a health and safety risk.

Another man who attended the public meeting said it would cost ‘an extraordinary amount of money’ for the HSE to negotiate new rates with developers delivering primary care centres throughout the country.

Working group

A working group of local residents formed after the meeting are due to invite the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD, to visit the incomplete primary care centre in Ballyhaunis.

The builder and the HSE were invited to attend last Wednesday’s meeting but did not do so.

Aontú local election candidate Paul Lawless, who organised the meeting, told The Mayo News that the issue was being raised by almost every constituent he met in the Ballyhaunis area.

Mr Lawless told the meeting that trying to find information about the project was ‘like hitting a stone wall’.

He acknowledged efforts by the HSE to recruit more GPs but said they were moving at ‘a glacial pace’.

Mr Lawless cited the success of the Lahardane community in retaining their GP when he called on people to support a campaign to complete the Ballyhaunis primary care centre.

“There’s one currency a politician knows, and that’s votes in the ballot box. And that is the value of mobilising groups like this,” he told the meeting.

The Knock-based schoolteacher told The Mayo News that he understood why the developer had walked away from the project for economic reasons.

“I can understand where the developer is coming from. Costs have gone up,” said Mr Lawless, who hit out at the ‘lack of urgency’ from the HSE regarding the situation.

“Ballyhaunis cannot wait another three years for the completion of this project and frankly the building cannot wait another three years as it suffers from water ingress,” he said.

_{Aontú local election candidate Paul Lawless speaking at a public meeting on Ballyhaunis primary care centre}

Dervin & Sons, whose director John Crean is also a director of Sharpdale Limited, has not responded to queries made by this newspaper regarding the project. 

Statement

THE last statement the HSE issued to The Mayo News on the matter said that it remained in contact with the builder regarding the project.

“The HSE has been assessing this issue on a national basis and all options are being explored including rate uplifts, withdrawing the current agreement and re-advertising of the development.”

The HSE has not responded to further questions from The Mayo News regarding the ownership of the building.

The matter has already been raised in the Dáil by Mayo TDs and locally by Fine Gael local election candidate Alma Gallagher.