RESIDENTS of a psychiatric hostel in Dublin have told the Eastern Health Board that they will not leave to make way for a drugs clinic. Twenty one of the 24 residents in the high support hostel in Cork Street have signed a letter to the EHB stating: "We, the residents of Weir Home, intend to remain in our hostel."
The EHB plans to locate a methadone clinic and counselling service for heroin addicts in the building, which it says it had intended to close in any event.
But the residents, some of whom have been in the hostel for 15 years, said that they knew nothing of a closure plan until they heard from neighbours in Cork Street, that a drug treatment service was to be located there.
The Psychiatric Nurses' Association has said that the closure decision came as a shock to the hostel's management team. It is opposing the move.
In a letter to the EHB, the residents say it is not their fault that there is a serious drug problem in the area. "Please remember that it is our peace that is being disturbed and not yours, so please let us have our home, where we belong", they say in the letter.
The EHB says the residents will be moved to what it calls "superior accommodation" in its other facilities around Dublin and that friends will not be broken up. It also says that the move will be made in a sensitive manner.
The Weir Home used to be a residence for nurses working in the old fever hospital in Cork Street. Each of the men living there has his own room - if they move, they will have to share - and residents have the use of a spacious garden at the front of the building.
The Psychiatric Nurses' Association and people living in Cork Street say the residents of Weir Home have integrated with the local community, where they have made friends and feel at home.