St Conal's campus in Letterkenny could be a hive of activity in years to come

Buildings at St Conal’s Hospital in Letterkenny which have not been used and have been lying empty for years may be brought back into use under new plans. 

Over the last decade, the Health Service Executive (HSE), Capital & Estates, have carried out a number of projects on St Conals campus. The works included internal refurbishments, the roof coverings being replaced, re-rendering the external facades and window repairs is continuing.

The Chairperson of the Regional Health Forum West, Councillor Gerry McMonagle, asked what the long and short term plans were for the vacant buildings on the grounds at a meeting of the forum on Monday. 

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He was informed that the design team for the upgrade works have reviewed the entire main buildings and recommendations have been made to remove items which have been added to the building over the years. There is currently an update of the accommodation review for the Letterkenny area taking place which will inform the long term strategy for St Conal’s campus - this plan will involve the repurposing of the main St Conal’s building for clinical services and the '1901' building refurbished for administration support.

The Chief Officer, Community Healthcare Organisation, Dermot Monaghan, said that the strategy has yet to be developed in agreement with everyone. He added the idea is to turn the area into an all-clinical site so that the only administrative staff in the area would be clinic related. 

He said he had walked the grounds at St Conal’s recently and was taken aback by the level of disrepair to some of the buildings in the area.  The Letterkenny-based politician, Cllr Gerry McMonagle said that the buildings were significant and had been idle lying for a number of years and could have been put to better use decades before this juncture. 

“But I would hope now that we would have a plan and that it wouldn’t be that far ahead and that would be bringing these buildings into use again if not for use by the HSE then we look at alternative uses for other agencies,” he said. 

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Mr Monaghan said that those who were working on the strategy were looking at what exactly is needed to bring the buildings back into use and how they can future proof the buildings.

“How do we make sure that we get that infrastructure back to something that would be able to be inhabited by people? But if we aren’t going to be able to be using it …. That we would be making sure that we have other key stakeholders in the locality that we would be looking to engage with to see how they would use it as well,” Mr Monaghan said. 

Mr McMonagle said that the St Conal’s campus is big and it could lend itself to a number of services which would save people having to drive around the town.