*St Flannan’s College.
THE Health Service Executive (HSE) is set to re-ignite a planning controversy by re-applying for planning permission for a €25m community hospital for Catholic Church-owned green space at St Flannan’s College in Ennis.
Last December, An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) refused planning permission to the HSE for the 100 bed hospital at the end of a three year plus long planning battle dating back to August 2022.
The planning application had the Board of Management and teaching staff at St Flannan’s College at loggerheads with the local Catholic diocese and Bishop of Killaloe, Fintan Monahan who had agreed to sell the diocesan-owned school green space to the HSE for the hospital development.
Seventy five members of staff appended their names to an objection to the planned hospital including All-Ireland winning Clare hurlers, Tony Kelly, Jamesie O’Connor and Brendan Bugler.
However the HSE has confirmed it intends to re-apply for planning permission for a hospital on the same site. It stated that “the HSE and its design team has been reviewing the decision of An Coimisiún Pleanála of December 8th 2025 and in particular the reasons and considerations behind the decision to refuse as set out”.
It stated that the HSE has also been in discussions with the landowner, the Diocese of Killaloe. It said that it “currently intends to reapply for planning permission to develop a community nursing unit on the same site once it has fully reviewed the technical issues arising and is satisfied that a new planning permission application can resolve the concerns raised”. It stated that “a final decision on this matter is not expected until Q3 2026”.
The planning commission refused planning permission to the HSE last December over the inability of existing Uisce Éireann waste water infrastructure in Ennis to accommodate the hospital.
In its refusal, the Commission stated that it was not satisfied that the HSE has clearly demonstrated that the proposed arrangements for wastewater disposal from the proposed development, including the manner of the connection to Uisce Éireann infrastructure, are adequate to cater satisfactorily for the proposed development.
A HSE spokesman said that the HSE remains committed to increasing the number of community nursing home beds in the Mid-West. He said that an ESRI report published in November 2025 projected that the population in the Mid-West aged 65 and over will grow by 59% between 2022 and 2040 and the population aged 85 and over will increase by 158% over the same timeframe.
He said that the study projected that the number of long-stay residential beds for older people in the region will need to increase by up to 2,200 beds (private and public beds) to meet demand.
In its appeal to ACP over Clare County Council’s decision to grant planning permission in April 2023, St Flannan’s College Board of Management told the Council that “other suitable sites, which do not cut across existing intensive use by a large proportion of the youth of the area must be available”.
The board of management stated that “it surely cannot be the case that the provision of proper healthcare and the provision of sporting facilities for the youth of the area must be placed in conflict.”
In their objection, the St Flannan’s College staff told the Council that the hospital proposal “will have a seriously negative impact on the student population of St Flannan’s College”.
They stated that “St Flannan’s College is the only school in the town with the potential to expand if needed. We believe that it would be incredibly short sighted were the lands to be taken away from any future development.”
