Plans by four health boards to locate a high-support childcare campus on the site of the former army barracks in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, have provoked strong criticism from a local action group and councillors. They feel the North Eastern Health Board has added to anxiety about the development through lack of communication.
The Castleblayney Development Association (CDA) wanted to develop the 10 acres into a leisure and amenity centre, and was angered when the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, described its submission as "a hotchpotch".
The CDA fears the town will not qualify for the £1 million which Mr Smith promised in compensation for the loss of the barracks.
Earlier this year the CDA bid £500,000 for the site, the same amount as the Department of Defence expects to receive from the Department of Health and Children.
The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, has provided £1 million in capital funding and revenue funding of £400,000 to the NEHB to develop it as a high-support unit for up to 20 children with special needs.
In briefing notes to members of the NEHB its chief executive officer, Mr Donal O'Shea, said the proposed unit would cater for children "who have serious emotional and psychological difficulties, and find they are not able to live in a family environment such as a foster home, and also find it hard to interact with adults and other children."
The former barracks had potential to cater for between 20 and 24 children.
The board wants the campus to comprise two to four group homes, with staff sleeping quarters and communal dining and living areas. Educational facilities would include a range of classrooms, a workshop and craft shop.
Mr Joe Brennan, an independent member of Castleblayney UDC and supporter of the CDA plan, said: "The Minister promised £1 million to the people of Castleblayney to compensate for the loss of the barracks. Now that £1 million is probably gone and no one knows what is going on, I don't think the health board know themselves. If we could see the proposals in writing it could allay a lot of fears."
The CDA plan had the backing of numerous local organisations. But a delegation which met Mr Smith was told it was a "hotchpotch of a proposal," according to Mr Brennan.
He is not the only local representative to be concerned. A Monaghan county councillor, Mr Gary Carville of Fine Gael, said: "We have shown we are a caring town and have Romanian refugees in Castleblayney. Plans for a family and community centre had been on the table for a number of years."
However, the chairman of Monaghan County Council, Mr Brendan Hughes of Fianna Fail, also a member of the North Eastern Health Board, said the children and the town would benefit.
"It will provide 45 jobs and have a revenue turnover of £1.2 million a year. As a society we owe it to provide children who have suffered with the best available treatment and care . . . The locals have nothing to fear."