Families who have spent years driving children with disabilities out of the county for respite care have moved a step closer to a permanent service at home, after Monaghan County Council granted planning permission for a new children's respite centre on the edge of Monaghan Town.
The Irish Independent reported on Wednesday, 21 October, that the HSE has been given the go-ahead to demolish a vacant house at Drumbear and Killygowan, just off the Ballybay Road, and put up a purpose-built facility in its place. The council's decision comes with 11 conditions attached.
What will be built
According to the Independent, the finished centre will be able to offer overnight respite for up to five children. The plans include staff facilities, sensory rooms, accessible bathrooms and support spaces, a secure courtyard-style private garden area and a self-contained apartment.
A tender notice the HSE published on the Government's eTenders site in March describes the job as the demolition of an existing single-storey dwelling and the construction of a new single-storey, community-based residential respite facility at Drumbear, Ballybay Road (Eircode H18 AW90). The HSE put the estimated value of the works contract at €1.64 million excluding VAT, with an estimated duration of 16 months. It was run as a restricted procedure, with between five and eight contractors to be invited to the second stage.
Who it is for
In a written reply to Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín dated 7 April, Dervila Eyres, the HSE's Integrated Healthcare Area manager for Cavan Monaghan, said the Children's Disability Respite Home at Drumbear would serve children aged 0 to 18 with an intellectual disability, as well as those with high support medical and complex needs, across both Cavan and Monaghan.
At that point the project was at the design, planning and procurement strategy stage, and the planning application had not yet been decided. Ms Eyres said the full costs of the Stage 2 design work would be released once that design stage concludes. Those figures have not been published in anything we have seen.
A long campaign
The planning application was lodged in January, after repeated calls from parents and local politicians for more investment in disability services in the county. The HSE bought the Drumbear property almost two years ago, the Independent said, following a concerted local campaign for a dedicated respite centre.
For many families the issue has been distance. Parents have lobbied for the State to step in so that children no longer have to be brought outside the county for respite. In April 2024 the then Minister of State for Disabilities, Anne Rabbitte, pledged more than €3 million for a new facility to fill that gap.
In the meantime, a temporary respite centre opened in October 2024 at Urbalkirk, about 8km from Monaghan Town, and it continues to provide a service while the permanent building is planned.
What happens next
With planning in place, the next steps are the appointment of a contractor and the start of demolition and construction. No start date or opening date for the Drumbear centre has been announced in the published reports, and the HSE has not set out publicly which of the shortlisted firms will carry out the work.
The decision can still be appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála within the usual four-week window after a council grant, and no appeal had been reported at the time of writing.
For more on disability and access issues in the town, see our report on the Monaghan Town walkability audit.
