Cork South West Minister Jim Daly has commended the HSE for their vision in agreeing to sign over the old HSE Health Centre in Kinsale to three critical community groups.
The HSE has entered into a long-term lease with the Kinsale Youth Support Services group, the Men’s Shed and the Youth Café where all will share use of the facility.
The agreement is a product of over 18 months of extensive engagement between representatives from the local groups and the HSE. This included a meeting in recent months with HSE senior management facilitated by Minister Daly where the groups involved advised that they have established a company to progress the project.
Speaking today, Minister Daly said; ‘’this is a hugely beneficial development for Kinsale. All three of these groups do hugely beneficial work in the area.’’
He said; ‘’as Minister with responsibility for Mental Health I am particularly aware of the key work in the town and surrounding areas engaged in by the Kinsale Youth Support Services, run by Garda James O'Mahony in providing confidential mental health support to teenagers and young people’’.
The Minister said;
‘’This is also an important example of the state providing a hand up to community groups.
The HSE often come in for criticism and rightly so, but they have lived up to the old Irish saying about strength coming from working together on this occasion.
Releasing this site will create a long-term hub for social and community development at no extra cost to the tax-payer.
It is joined up governance in action where we are maximising rather than hoarding resources.
I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of the volunteers in each of the local groups in Kinsale who provide an outstanding service to the community’’.