Smyth anger over 10-year oil bill for empty Loman’s
Taxpayers’ money is being used to heat the St Loman’s Hospital’s main building despite the fact that most of it has been unoccupied for a decade. The news that the state has spent tens of thousands of euro heating a building that has been allowed to remain idle has been described as “mad and maddening” by Cllr Hazel Smyth, who is a member of the HSE’s Regional Health Forum.
She says that given the scale of the housing, energy and climate crises it is “hard to understand” why the prominent site has been left “to go to rack and ruin for so long”.
“They are spending money heating it, spending huge amounts heating it because it is such a big campus and really they are just heating the birds because there are swifts in the attic of it. Otherwise it is just lying there pretty much derelict, the vast majority of it.
“My take on it is that this is state-owned property. It is a really rich heritage site in Mullingar that offers enormous potential to the town, to the county and to the midlands in terms of housing, of business opportunities, of economic opportunities, in terms of community – and it is just lying there going to rack and ruin, which is really hard to understand.
“I know that it would cost a lot to redevelop, but with there being such a shortage of sites and property, I am sure that with the right negotiations, it would be seen as a golden opportunity for anyone,” she said.
She that given the scale of the climate crisis it “boggles the brain” that a vacant premises as large as the main building at St Loman’s would be heated for almost a decade. The financial and environmental costs are huge, she says. “The use of fuel should be closely examined and here you are seeing a huge campus being heated and not being used – it really boggles the brain. We are supposedly trying to trying to reduce our carbon footprint and become more energy efficient, yet here is a huge building being heated without being used.
“The thing that confuses me is why more pressure isn’t being put on the HSE about this. It would be something if it was closed two or three years, but it was officially closed in 2013. It’s nearly 10 years later.”
HSE Response
When contacted by the Westmeath Examiner, the HSE issued a short statement: “The St Loman’s building due to its age and condition is not readily compatible for the provision of modern health services and its future use is being determined.”