Deputy Pat Buckley is due to raise the proposed closure of the centre in the Dáil today ahead of a protest by residents, their families and local representatives outside the town courthouse on Saturday.
Family members say they fear that moving residents from the long-stay mental health centre to other locations will have a huge impact on their wellbeing and are calling on the HSE to keep it open while another centre is built nearby.
The HSE have said the end of the month closure date is not set in stone but say the centre must be closed due to the poor condition of the building.
Speaking to RedFM News, Cork East TD Pat Buckley says the HSE should not have allowed the building to fall into disrepair in the first place:
"Because the day services; the mental health day services are gone... an individual has shown an awful lot of empathy [and is] actually meeting some of these patients in a coffee shop, and just going through counselling motions and trying to interact with them and make them feel safe. They [The HSE] have failed to invest in that building over the years and as I said before, they're the landlords, they're responsible for the upkeep of that building and they haven't stuck to that, and yet it's all the patients and families and the wider community are going to suffer."
