The HSE says they are not 'weaponising' a report on the Owenacurra Mental Health Centre in Midleton as a way of closing it.
Chief Officer of Cork Kerry Community Healthcare Michael Fitzgerald and other HSE staff faced questions over the controversial closure during a Joint Committee on Health meeting yesterday.
The meeting heard the decision to close the long-stay residential centre is final and that a number of issues with the building as well as its age meant it had reached the end of its useful life.
Speaking in answer to a question from TD Neasa Hourigan, Michael Fitzgerald says a number of similar centres in Cork are below standard.
"'Weaponise' is a word you're using yourself.
"First of all there are a number of centres, particularly in Cork, which fall short of the requirements from the point of view of the regulator.
"We're working on two fronts in order to that - a) replace, where we can, some of those units and b) in the interim that we would do works that would maintain them and keep them at some level of ongoing delivery of service."
