HSE to meet over Drumlin House investment

The HSE and the steering group behind a proposed €7.5M investment at Drumlin House in Cootehill are set to meet to progess the plans.

The meeting, scheduled for mid-September, follows on from a meeting that took place last month between the Drumlin House Board of Management and HSE Estates North East and Community Healthcare Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo Disability Services.

Drumlin House provides day services for people from Cavan and Monaghan. Funded by the HSE, it recently received planning for a state-of-the-art training and day centre for adults with intellectual disabilities.

The service has been one of the main providers of places for school leavers with additional needs in the region over the past 20 years.

Designs for Drumlin House include the demolition of the existing training centre and ancillary structures.

In its place, the board plan to construct a new two-storey training centre with accessible roof-top for plant and services.

The plans also provide for an external amenity space with landscaping, alterations to existing access onto Cooney’s Row to facilitate new traffic layout, car parking and bus drop-off with connection to public services.

A spokesperson for the HSE informed The Anglo-Celt that Drumlin House Day Services, with support from the HSE, is now “working towards the development of a new day service location” in Cavan, while preparing plans to invest in the existing service location in Cootehill.

The proposed plans will help increase capacity and help facilitate those school leavers with complex needs through the provision of an appropriate service setting.

“Drumlin House Day Services have submitted a proposal via HSE Estates North East detailing its new service location requirements in Cootehill.”

The spokesperson added that the capital funding proposal was submitted to the National HSE Estates office to develop a “bespoke standalone high support facility” in Cootehill that will accommodate current attendees and also school leavers requiring adult Disability Day Services over the next five to 10 years.

This submission was approved at the February meeting of the National HSE Capital and Property Steering Committee.