Long overdue redevelopment of Laois health centre finally progresses

Progress is finally being made on the redevelopment of a Laois health centre which was recently described as a "Third World" facility by a local councillor in the area.

Mountrath Health Centre has been waiting years to be refurbished and extended. Now, the HSE has provided a welcome update on the process of redeveloping the site to provide a larger and more modern facility.

The HSE promised that a new primary care facility would be developed in Mountrath in 2021. The existing health centre was ruled out for any upgrades or expansions in 2022 as it was considered by the HSE as an unsuitable site.

Since then, three other sites were considered such as one which belonged to Laois County Council on the Portlaoise Road, another site on the Castletown Road, and one which was more accessible to the town centre.

After rejecting these sites, last year the HSE went back on their initial decision and decided to go ahead with the extension and refurbishment of the existing centre on the Link Road.

At last month's meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory /Mountmellick MD, Cllr James Kelly requested an update on the long overdue health centre which he compared to a "Third World" facility. 

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Cllr Kelly has been raising the issues with Mountrath Health Centre since 2014. He described the facility as "inadequate" for both the staff and patients.

At the April meeting of the MD, Cllr Kelly provided the welcome update from the HSE on the health centre's redevelopment.

He told the council that the HSE are currently working through the internal approvals process to appoint a design team for the planning, refurbishment and extension to the existing Mountrath Health Centre. The design team will be appointed in the second or third quarter of 2026.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Kelly said: "This is a good news story for Mountrath. I want to say well done to everyone. It is going to mean an awful lot to Mountrath. It's a growing town, we have nineteen housing estates in Mountrath and its surrounding areas. The staff and doctors in there are worked to the bone in the cramped conditions."

Fellow councillors John King and Ollie Clooney welcomed the news, reiterating that similar issues are also evident in Rathdowney, Durrow and Borris-in-Ossory wherein the town health centres cannot cater for the population. 

Cllr Clooney congratulated Mountrath on the news, saying it's "badly needed." He added that the problem still persists in Durrow where they "can't even get a tin of paint."

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme