Disability Services Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18 ============================================================ Emer Higgins (FG), Dublin Mid-West HSE Capital and Estates Dublin and North East and the disability services in the Cavan-Monaghan IHA service area have identified a premises for sale that is suitable for the purposes of renovation to develop a HSE respite centre for children. The purchase transaction has been approved and completed. The keys of the premises have been transferred to HSE Capital and Estates Dublin and North East. The premises are located at Drumbear, Ballybay Road, County Monaghan. Following the conclusion of the preliminary design stage with disability services in quarter 3 of 2025, the HSE Capital and Estates Dublin and North East office, through the appointed design team, has progressed with preparing a planning application for the proposed development, to be lodged no later than the end of January 2026. Subject to statutory approval of the planning application, it will be the HSE Capital and Estates Dublin and North East office’s intention to commence the preparation of tender documentation for the project. The HSE will then complete a capital project to prepare the property to deliver a five-bedroom residential respite facility. HSE Capital and Estates Dublin and North East has advised that, if all of those steps go according to the timeframe set out, this project should be completed in quarter 4 of 2026. The number of children who will avail of respite in this new centre will be dependent on the assessed individual needs of each child and his or her family. In order to legally operate as a registered residential respite centre, a facility will need to meet the required standards for a designated respite centre, which is assessed and determined by the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA. Cavan-Monaghan disability services secured a commitment for funding for an interim, two-year residential respite service for children in County Monaghan pending the development of the new HSE facility. The location of the interim children’s respite centre for Monaghan is at Urbalkirk, approximately 8 km from Monaghan town. The Talbot Group operates the service under a service arrangement with the HSE. The interim children’s respite centre, called Rainbow Lodge, became operational on 1 October 2024. Retention of this respite centre’s services will be contingent on future funding considerations. Cavan-Monaghan disability services helped prepare capital submission documents for the national HSE capital and property steering committee to seek approval and funding to provide a stand-alone respite centre for adults with an intellectual disability in County Cavan. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-12-18