Plan to develop old hospital for community use

THE group behind the newly developed Innovation Hub in Dingle is driving a cross-community initiative aimed at developing the old Dingle Hospital as a technology, tourism, arts and community centre for the town.

The initiative, spearheaded by Mol Teic, aims to develop a multi-use centre in which commercial elements, such as a technology hub and visitor centre, would be able to generate enough ongoing revenue to make it financially self-sufficient.

The State-owned former hospital closed when the new West Kerry Community Hospital opened in 2010. At the time the HSE said the old hospital and over 20 acres of adjoining land were to be sold, but no private buyer has emerged and the building has remained idle and in danger of falling into dereliction.

A number of potential uses have been proposed for the building, including an arts centre and an accommodation block for Dingle’s seasonal tourism workers, but these ideas failed to gain traction.

The latest proposal is considerably more broad-based and aims to draw together a wide number of facilities which would share the building. These include the Innovation Hub, which opened in Cooleen earlier this year but is rapidly outgrowing the space it occupies in the former Neodata building. Tourism use is also being proposed, possibly in the form of a museum/ interpretive centre and this could incorporate the top floor of the hospital, which remains essentially unchanged from the time when it functioned as a workhouse. The old hospital could also provide a concert venue in its very large chapel/mortuary area and an arts/ community centre is also included in the broad outlines of the plan.

The Innovation Hub founder, Mol Teic, which is already established as a not-for-profit limited company, is being used as a forum to develop and promote the plan. So far they have succeeded in winning broad local support, as well as the backing of Kerry County Council and public representatives across the political spectrum.

Central to Mol Teic’s thinking is that the building, which dates to the mid 1800s and remains deeply rooted in the community, can only be developed in a way that includes a significant element of community use. However, the group believes a commercial element is also essential in order to generate the revenue needed to cover the running costs of the building.

John Sheehy of Mol Teic said the group is currently engaging with State agencies in an effort to get the old hospital transferred from the HSE to another State Agency, such as Údarás na Gaeltachta, with a view to developing it for community use. However, these talks are still in the early stages and a feasibility study will have to be conducted to establish the viability of the project before any significant progress can be made.

Photos by Declan Malone ABOVE, LEFT: John Fenton (from Green Street, “exiled in Limerick”), Seán O’Sullivan (from Dingle and living in Dingle), and Ian Graham (from Grey’s Lane, teaching in Limerick) at the class of ‘77 reunion. ABOVE, RIGHT: Jackie Kavanagh, Geert Maes and Tommy Sheehy. RIGHT: Reunion organisers Gearóid Mac Gearailt, Seamus Mac Gearailt, John ‘Diony’ O’Connor, Colm Ó Súilleabháin and Liam Óg O’Connor.

Mary Begley, Kitty Lynch, Joanne Barrett, Mary Leonard, Siún Farrell, Betty McGovern, Mary Murphy and Marie O’Sullivan were the former convent girls at the class of ‘77 reunion.