Massive public anger at Loughloe House closure

A local priest has likened the imminent closure of Loughloe House to "a modern-day eviction" which takes elderly people from their home in the twilight of their lives. Fr Brian Allen from Athlone Friary, who visits the Abbey Road-based care facility on a regular basis to attend to patients and to say mass, spoke on the subject in his sermon on Sunday last, expressing shock and sadness at what he called a "heartless decision" to close Loughloe House in the next two months. "The care they get up there is first class, I don't know what standards they didn't reach whether it's physical or not but it's a little community up there and it will be torn apart by this," the local cleric remarked. "I said mass up there on Friday and there was an air of gloom with many of the people breaking their hearts crying." Last week the HSE announced it was to close the facility as it would not meet the required standards. He said many of the patients have developed relationships with staff and the local community over 30 years, could come and go when they liked and receive visitors daily, something that will be completely lost if they are moved to Mullingar and Longford. "It's a tragedy that this disturbance is taking place in the twilight of their lives," he added. "I know the daughter of one patient who comes in every day to help feed her mother and that just won't be possible now". Fr Allen explained that it's particularly sad that decisions in this country now revolve solely around money, taking no account of the effects on the dignity of older people. "The people were in tears, I believe three have been hospitalised since the announcement and one lady died this morning. It is like a modern day eviction. A lot of these decisions are taken on the economy but they don't take people in to account at all, especially those in the twilight of their lives."