Decision expected on extension to Limerick health centre

AN BORD Pleanala is expected to make a decision on the expansion of a northside health centre in the next month.

Laya Healthcare is seeking to build a major extension to the building it moved into at the former Ivan’s delicatessen in 2021.

The provider is planning to bring in new consultation rooms, a wellness area plus an MRI department.

A Laya spokesperson previously said footfall at its centre in the landmark Ennis Road building had risen by 66% since its opening.

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The expansion, the firm added, will pave the way for services like ultrasound, MRI and Dexa scans.

But the proposals prompted 20 people to write to the council with concerns when it came before planners.

Among these were residents living in the vicinity of where the expansion is proposed for.

They were joined by Limerick TD Willie O’Dea plus councillors Olivia O’Sullivan and Frankie Daly.

Former Dublin TD Clare Daly - who at the time was an MEP - also wrote to express concerns on behalf of a local resident.

She wrote that the MRI machine which will be installed would measure 130 decibels on the sound scale.

“Online research notes as being the same noise level as a jackhammer,” she added.

Cllr O’Sullivan wrote while many in the local community who would use the health centre would welcome the extension, there are concerns from some which need to be addressed.

She outlined questions she had received from residents around the scale of an MRI machine in a residential area, its noise levels, when it will be operational for, and the infrastructure which needs to be installed to accommodate it.

“I wish to request, on behalf of residents living nearby that the council in examining this application receive specialist advice about placing medical equipment, specific to the nature of an MRI machine, beside residential housing and seek further information to clarify fully the risks associated with same,” she wrote.

Limerick City and County Council approved the development subject to a number of conditions.

However, three local residents then appealed this decision to An Bord Pleanala.

The national planning appeals body was initially meant to decide on the project by the end of October last.

But this was delayed, with a fresh decision date now set at Friday, March 14.