Bid to save south Dublin nursing home and disability centre begins

Residents and employees of a south Dublin nursing home and disability centre have brought a High Court application aimed at preventing its closure.

Last July, the court appointed provisional liquidators to St Mary’s Centre (Telford) which operates facilities on a campus beside St Vincent’s Hospital on Merrion Road.

The application to wind up the facility, owned by the Sisters of Charity, was brought by the firm on grounds it would be unable to meet redundancy payments of €950,000 arising from the liquidation.

The firm also cited regulatory difficulties and an inability to comply with Hiqa recommendations to modernise its facilities.

When the matter returned before the court on Tuesday, lawyers for a group of employees, former employees, residents and their families asked the court to consider putting the company into examinership.

Mr Justice Mark Sanfey, who said the court's priority is the health and well-being of the residents, fixed a hearing date later this month for the examinership application.

It will be heard in the presence of all interested parties and in tandem with the application to confirm the liquidator’s appointment, he said.

John Kennedy SC, instructed by solicitor Gary Daly, for the residents and employees, said an independent expert had provided a report expressing the view the company could survive as a going concern if certain steps were taken.

Those include appointing an examiner to “test the waters” to see if an investor can be found to operate the facility, counsel said. The facility, in being for 150 years, had always made a profit and had no debts, he said.

Counsel said many of the residents are vulnerable, some are deemed legally blind and some have been there for 60 years.

The examinership application could not have been brought any sooner due to the difficulty in taking instructions from some residents, he said.

Examinership was opposed by the company, represented by Rossa Fanning SC, and the provisional liquidators, represented by Ross Gorman BL.

As well as licencing issues with the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), insurance coverage would cease at the end of the month and senior management had all resigned some time ago, the court was told.

The company directors, all volunteers, are not prepared to get involved in the company, the court also heard.

Mr Fanning said the examinership application was “misconceived” and it was “unrealistic” to believe the entity could be saved.

While the group was entitled to seek to put the company in examinership, the fact is the provisional liquidators had been in place for almost seven weeks.

Mr Gorman said many of the residents have been relocated to other facilities. Four residents, out of a maximum capacity of 50, remain in the nursing home while 18 of the 25 residents remain in the disability centre.

The examinership application was not opposed by the HSE, represented by Conor Dignam SC, or Hiqa represented by Brian Gageby Bl.

Both counsel said their clients’ main focus in any proceedings regarding the company was the residents’ welfare.

Mr Dignam said the HSE remains committed to provi ding the facility with the same level of funding it always had.

In adjourning the matter, Mr Justice Sanfey said he was satisfied to put a stay on certain powers previously granted to the provisional liquidators including to sell the firm’s assets or its leasehold over the property.

He encouraged the parties to engage in informal talks to see if they can reach some common ground before the case returns to court.