Call for vacant Laois health clinic to be given to the community
The former health centre in Portarlington town centre has been lying idle for years. Image: Google Maps
A VACANT health centre in Portarlington that has been lying idle for years could be used by the community, if the HSE agrees to a proposal by a local councillor.
Cllr Aidan Mullins wants the HSE to hand over the former health clinic in the town centre, so that it can be used by a variety of local groups.
The HSE has confirmed that it has no plans for the one-storey building, which occupies a large corner site on French Church Street.
The update was given to the September meeting of Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District, when cllr Mullins followed up an enquiry he made last year regarding plans for the former clinic.
Elaine Moore of the council’s property management section said the HSE recently advised that they ‘no longer have a requirement’ for Portarlington Health Centre. However, she said the county council is not in a position to purchase the building ‘due to funding constraints’.
Cllr Mullins, who is district cathaoirleach, said he would pursue the possibility of the centre being bought by the county council. If not, he would see whether the HSE could hand it over for community use, perhaps on a long-term lease for a nominal fee.
He said: “It is sad to see it empty when it could be put to so many different uses. There are so many groups that would love to have it for meetings.” At a district council meeting in June 2023, Cllr Mullins said he had asked the HSE’s property section about five years previously about their plans for the old health centre, which he felt could be used for housing or for community needs. He said the HSE replied that it was simply ‘an asset’ and they hadn’t decided what they were going to do with it.
The Portarlington councillor told this month’s meeting that, now that it was established that the HSE still has no plans for the centre, he would pursue the possibility that it could be made available for the community.
The old clinic was replaced by the HSE’s Portarlington Primary Care Centre at Kilnacourt House in Bracklone Street.
