Plans progress for Mayo's Sunflower Children’s Hospice
Photo credit: Sunflower Children's Hospice.
Plans for the Sunflower Children’s Hospice in Castlebar have moved a step closer after councillors agreed to allow a material contravention of the Mayo County Development Plan, paving the way for planning permission for the development.
The proposed hospice at Moneenbradagh will provide specialist palliative day and inpatient services, respite and end-of-life care for children.
At the September meeting of the Castlebar Municipal District, councillors welcomed the proposed facility and highlighted what it will mean for families who need to avail of its services.
The building will include four day rooms, shared therapies including a hydrotherapy suite, eight inpatient bedrooms, and four family overnight bedrooms. Plans also include a dining room, contemplation room, a family gathering room and staff offices.
The primarily single-storey building will have a two-storey section to the front, along with a new vehicular entrance and pedestrian access routes.
The development will also include landscaped therapy gardens, 43 vehicular parking spaces, a bicycle stand, and associated plant, waste and storage areas.
An ESB substation, renewable energy sources and plant at roof level are also proposed, along with a new connection to the public sewer and other ancillary site development works.
Cathaoirleach Ger Deere said the hospice will be a “great development for Castlebar, and indeed for the whole county.”
"To have that facility on our doorstep will mean so much to families. It's just fantastic. We hope we will never have to use it, but when it's there it's great and it's in our town,” he said.
The children's hospice will be the first outside of Dublin and the first in the west of Ireland, caring for children and families from Donegal to Limerick and across the Midlands. It is being built entirely through fundraising efforts, with €9m of the €20m needed raised so far.
A decision on the planning application for the Sunflower Children's Hospice is due to be made by Mayo County Council's planning department on .
