Gillian McVeigh

DESPITE being officially opened by President Mary McAleese weeks ago Brookvale House , a special needs home in Monaghan Town remains locked up and unused due to a lack of HSE funding. This is despite a great number of service users wishing to avail of the facility.

Brookvale along with Millbrook House built two years ago, are fully adapted to suit the needs of residents. Brookvale is furnished and ready to be opened as soon as funding becomes available for the staff needed to be employed.

Chairman of the Monaghan branch of the Parents and Friends of the Intellectual Disability Association, Dan Rogan, stated this week that the house has been “lying vacant for some time now.”

Brendan Casey, HSE Care Group Manager for the Cavan and Monaghan Disability Services told the Monaghan Post, “Our plan is that the house will be open in the first quarter of 2008.”

He continued: “We have been working with local authorities and the housing association and we are in the process of identifying priority clients who are currently awaiting group home accommodation.”

The house was purchased by the Parents and Friends of the Intellectual Disability Association with the help of €80,000 which they fundraised. The house was then furnished with the help of funding received from the Department of the Environment and the HSE.

Dan Rogan added “These houses will facilitate mainly young people which intellectual disabilities to take the pressure of their parents who may find it difficult to cope.”

President McAleese was very impressed with the Brookvale House However, almost immediately after the President’s visit the house was locked up and has not been occupied ever since.