Vacant Laois HSE buildings should be put up for sale
The former HSE healthcare centre in Ballinakill was recently sold at auction
THE vacant dispensary building the HSE has left littered throughout the Portlaoise municipal district should be put up for sale to boost the council’s coffers or be put to community use, a recent meeting of Portlaoise municipal district was told.
Cllr Barry Walsh put forward a motion advocating for the buildings to be brought back into some form of public use, commercial or social. One such centre in Ballinakill was recently sold on the market at a value of €115,000.
A recent study found that, across the breadth of the Republic, the HSE owns over 200 historical health service dispensaries that now lie derelict.
Making his case to the council for resurrecting these derelict buildings, Cllr Walsh said: "A lot of dispensary buildings in our district and in the country are idle at the moment. Single-storey buildings that, in my view, would be ideal for conversion into property suitable for the council, for people that have disability needs because they're single-storeyed. There is a huge shortage of that type of property in the country for our needs. So, I just see this as, maybe, a solution. I know there's not a huge amount, but it's something that could be done."
He concluded that it was a great shame to see the buildings lying idle when they could be used for the community's benefit.
