Residents moved from Wheelchair Association facility in Kilkenny, with site set to be sold

Residents of the Irish Wheelchair Association’s (IWA) Claddagh Court facility in Kilkenny City have been moved out of their homes to new locations in the community, while respite services have been transferred to a local hotel.

The IWA says that a fire safety issue was identified at Claddagh Court, which is located on College Road, and following a building survey, ‘significant building compliance concerns’ were discovered. The IWA says it is not in a financial position to fund the works required, and it is not considered value for money to restore the buildings there to compliance with building regulations. 

The Kilkenny People understands the IWA is proposing that Claddagh Court be sold in the future.

However, local TD John McGuinness has raised concerns over the situation.

Claddagh Court is one of the IWA’s regional centres, from which community support services, respite/holidays and independent living has been provided for nearly 20 years.

As of July, there were nine tenants in the IWA houses at Claddagh Court. The IWA says that, following consultation with them, alternative accommodation was sourced.

Some of this is short-term accommodation, and the organisation says it is in the final stages of purchasing five accessible apartments in Kilkenny with a view to ensuring they will have a permanent home in Kilkenny. The IWA also says the preferred option for its tenants is housing integrated into the community.

However, local TD John McGuinness says other solutions should have been explored. The Fianna Fail TD says a community had been built up around various people, volunteers from the association and the clients of the services there.

“But then out of the blue, they were all asked to leave. And the IWA said it was a fire hazard. This is after 20 years,” he said.

“You’d imagine if there was fire safety issues, they would have applied for a grant and that they would have brought everything up to speed, but that didn't happen.”

Deputy McGuinness also has concerns over the transferring of the respite service to a local hotel.

“Surely there could be a plan put in place that would refurbish all those houses and bring them within the fire safety regulations, without having to break up a local community of residents, and volunteers, and supporters,” he says.

Meanwhile, the IWA says that the respite move has been received positively by service users. Its statement says: “Since July 2017, individuals wishing to avail of respite breaks in Kilkenny have had the opportunity to receive respite from a mainstream location within the community (fully wheelchair accessible rooms in a local hotel).

“This transition of supported assistance and care has been extremely effective. Both individuals and their families have commented favourably to the new mainstream approach and wish to continue to receive IWA respite services in this manner, due to the community participation element and social inclusion opportunities this progression of service delivery brings.”

The IWA says it is engaging with the council, the HSE and other key stakeholders to ensure minimum impact to services.