MLA queries Muckamore plans

SOUTH Antrim DUP MLA Trevor Clarke has tabled a priority written question over the future of the Muckamore Abbey Hospital site.

Once capable of caring for up to 1,000 patients with learning disabilities, the facility was earmarked for closure after an abuse scandal.

Mr Clarke has asked Mike Nesbitt: “to detail any (i) short-term; and (ii) long-term, plans for the Muckamore Abbey site, particularly for the unused or unutilised buildings.”

The question, tabled on February 12, is set to be answered by Friday, February 20th.

The target closure date of June 2024 which had been set in 2023 and later extended, was dependent on all the remaining patients successfully transitioning to agreed alternative accommodation placements in the community.

However the hospital, which is run by the Belfast Trust, is still running, with a small number of patients living and being treated on site.

In November 2025, Mr Clarke asked the Minister of Health to detail the budget required to clear the current backlog of essential maintenance on the Holywell Hospital site, which is run by the Northern Trust.

A plan to replace Holywell with the new £143 million Birch Hill mental health facility at Bush Road in Antrim is currently stalled, due to uncertainty over the Department of Health budget.

In his answer, the Minister said: “The Trust has identified, based on an independent tabletop exercise completed in 2025, that the budget required to clear the current backlog of essential maintenance on the Holywell Hospital site is £26.9m.”