This article is from page 6 of the 2014-08-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
PLANNING permission for a further development of facilities at the Ennistymon Community Hospital has been lodged with Clare County Council, with hopes high that construction work could get underway before the end of the year.
The hospital, which serves as a facility for older people from the North Clare area, has been threatened with closure on three separate occasion over the last 10 years with the facility staying open and then growing as a result of heroic fundraising by the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital.
Construction work on phase one of the hospital’s redevelopment is almost finished with a grand opening due to take place in the next month. Planning permission for phase two of the development was lodged last week and involves the construction of a single story extension which will include eight ensuite, bedrooms as well as a new sitting area.
The hospital, which is located on the site of the old Ennistymon Workhouse, is a listed building – a fact which was taken into account in the planning permission.
The projects was put forward by Friends of Ennistymon Hospital, who have raised in excess of € 3 million for the hospital over the past 30 years.
“This is phase two of our five-year plan that we are into now and we are hopeful that planning permission can be secured as quickly as possible,” said Tomsie Sullivan of the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital.
“We decided from the beginning that we were going to take this in phases and make sure that the hospital was going to remain open before we spent large amounts of money donated by the local people. The hospital has been threaten with closure on a number of occasion in recent years.
“This second phase will include the provision of eight single rooms and the fundraising for this is already underway. We will be outlining our fundraising plans for 2015 when we officially unveil the completed phase two in the coming weeks. We estimate that we have raised in excess of € 3 million for the hospital since the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital started its work back in 1984.”
Phase three of the development will see a major upgrade of the existing rooms and facilities at the facility to bring them up to the standard of the new constructions.