*Staff at St Flannan’s College have objected to the development.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) has suffered a fresh setback in its plans to advance its contentious €25m community hospital on diocesan-owned green space at St Flannan’s College.
This follows An Bord Pleanála pushing back the deadline to confirm that there is Uisce Éireann capacity to accommodate the 100 bedroom hospital plan to June 5th.
In the long planning saga, the appeals board had initially told the HSE that it must provide confirmation of Uisce Éireann capacity by February 17th otherwise it will dismiss the case.
The appeals board stated that it was seeking confirmation in light of a December 2024 update on the National Wastewater Treatment Capacity Register.
The register reported that Uisce Eireann’s Clareabbey Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP), which serves that part of Ennis, has no spare capacity at present but that there is a WWTP Project Planned/Underway.
Clare County Council granted planning permission for the hospital in May 2023 in the face of strong local opposition.
However, the HSE’s challenges in securing planning permission for the hospital from the appeals board are underlined in a separate planning application by a private developer for 75 residential units at a nearby site in Tobertaoscain, Ennis.
In a recent letter to applicants, Datcha Construction Ltd, the Council has stated that as the Uisce Éireann Wastewater treatment capacity register indicate the Clareabbey Waste Water Treatment Plant as having no spare capacity, it is not clear to the Council as to how the site can be adequately served by the public sewer.
The Council has told the applicants to liaise with Uisce Éireann on the timeframe – where available – of the upgrade to the Clareabbey WWTP.
The Council states that it considers the resolution to this issue is critical to progress the application.
The HSE hospital plan was stalled after St Flannan’s College’s own Board of Management and Staff Members of St Flannan’s College lodged separate third party appeals to An Bord Pleanála in their joint bid to try to prevent the 100 bed hospital on the seven acre green field college site getting the planning go-ahead.
Already, celebrated Clare All-Ireland winning hurlers amongst St Flannan’s College staff, Tony Kelly, double All-Ireland winner with Clare from the 1990s and well known hurling pundit, Jamesie O’Connor and key member of the 2013 Clare All-Ireland winning team, Brendan Bugler appended their names to a 75 strong group staff objection to the planned hospital lodged with the County Council.
The HSE application was only made possible after it received the consent from landowners, the Diocese of Killaloe to lodge the planning application.
The diocese led by Bishop of Killaloe, Fintan Monahan has agreed to sell the lands to the HSE subject to planning permission.
A total of six third party appeals have been lodged against the Clare County Council grant of permission. Others to lodge appeals are ‘Jim and Mary Wylde and others’ and individual appeals from Sean Walzer, Maura Walzer and Patrick Walzer.
On behalf of the HSE, planning consultants, Tom Phillips+Associates lodged a response to the third party appeals with An Bord Pleanála in June 2023.
However, it was only on November 8th last that the appeals board wrote to the appellants and the Council to ask them to respond to the points raised by Tom Phillips + Associates.
The appellants and the Council had until November 25th in which to reply to the appeals board.
In the appeal lodged on behalf of the college Board of Management, a diocesan colleague of Bishop Monahan, School Principal Fr Ignatius McCormack 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”.
Fr McCormack went on to state 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 staff told the Council that the hospital proposal “will have a seriously negative impact on the student population of St Flannan’s College”.
The staff stated that St Flannan’s College for the past two academic years has had its two largest ever enrolments with 240 1st Years each year.
