The family of the late Donegal supertrawler owner, Kevin McHugh, has pledged support for a new neurological institute planned by the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin.
Mr McHugh died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in the Mater private hospital at the age of 60 just over a year ago. The fleet owner had contracted the human form of the disease, which is said to affect just one in a million people, only months before his passing.
A fundraising function held by the family in Donegal just four days before the first anniversary of their loss has raised a six-figure sum for the institute, with sponsorship for the event from Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank.
The Mater Foundation, which is trying to raise €2.5 million, has acquired €1.7 million to date through such events and donations. Spearheaded by Dr Tim Lynch, consultant neurologist at the Mater Misericordiae, the institute plans to open next year in 57 Eccles Street, a Georgian building opposite the hospital, which was donated by the Sisters of Mercy.
Mary Moorhead, chief executive of the Mater Foundation, said the institute would provide a "multidisciplinary, high-quality and compassionate service to all patients suffering from neurological conditions in a timely and efficient manner".
It will serve as "a centre of excellence where clinical care and research thrive together" - linking clinical service with the basic sciences at the Conway Institute, University College Dublin to the study of neurological degenerative diseases including stroke, multiple sclerosis and other conditions, she said.
She said the facility would be "open to all" and would provide a "comfortable setting", where patients could avoid prolonged waits to see consultants.
A specialist nurse would be on hand to provide information and informal support, and patients with particular neurological conditions would be able to receive new treatments in a "non-clinical, friendly environment".
Although there are at least half a million people in Ireland with diagnosed neurological conditions, the Mater's appeal said the State employed the lowest ratio of consultant neurologists per head of population in "the western world". There is one such consultant for every 250,000 people, which means that waiting times for appointments can take up to a year.
The new institute aims to reduce waiting times and alleviate pressure on accident and emergency departments in hospitals, as an estimated one in five of all acute medical admissions here involve a neurological condition such as acute stroke, seizures, confusion paralysis, head and spinal injury.
The absence of a neurosurgery service at University College Hospital, Galway has been highlighted by the long-running Western Neurosurgery Campaign, which has expressed disappointment at a review carried out by Comhairle na nOspidéal.
That review acknowledged severe deficiencies in the provision of neurosurgery in the Republic, and recommended significant investment in the two existing units at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin and Cork University Hospital.
However, it ruled against funding a neurosurgery unit in the west, on the basis that it would have a "negative effect" on the catchment for Cork University Hospital.