‘A genuine, loyal and sustained effort’

“For just over half a century the people of Roscrea and its hinterland have availed of the caring services in the Dean Maxwell Home,” Cllr Michael Smith said this week.

“Beginning as a Day Care Centre, moving on to short and long-stay and culminating in the provision of specialised services for the terminally ill, the people have grown to love Dean Maxwell. A great number of families witnessed at first hand the compassionate, caring, medical and nursing services that were provided for their loved ones.

“They shared the declining years, months and final day with their parents and other members of their families in a most caring setting. It was no wonder then, when the news broke that this much loved facility was to be closed and that the 25 beds were being transferred to Nenagh, that these families were not going to surrender lightly.

“Public meetings were organised and a dedicated committee was formed to keep up the fight. Numerous efforts were made to enlarge the existing site of the home and seek more accommodation from the Catholic clergy, which was readily forthcoming, but all these efforts were to no avail.

“The HSE then decided to acquire an existing private nursing home and while this move was widely welcomed, it did not produce one extra bed to meet the growing needs of the elderly in Roscrea. Put simply, this new publicly owned facility was not a replacement for the Dean Maxwell Home.

“In November 2024, on the eve of the General Election, the Department of Health reversed its hitherto opposition and announced that provision was going to be made in the Capital Plan for a new 50-bed unit in Roscrea to replace the Dean Maxwell Home. Efforts are now in train to acquire a three and a half-acre site to accommodate the various services that will be provided in the new facility. This will not happen overnight and will take a number of years to complete. It is however, the result of a genuine, loyal and sustained effort by the families of the Dean Maxwell Home, who never gave up.

“I never yielded to the proposed closure to the Dean Maxwell, which so many others have done. Being involved in this fight from the very beginning to ensure that adequate services would be available for the ageing population in my home area has been an important part of my political life. The acquisition of a site is a top priority and I look forward to continuing my efforts to bring this very important facility to fruition,” concluded Cllr Michael Smith.