Still no answers over future of Muckamore site

A MONTH after it was due to be answered, there has been no response to a priority written question in the Northern Ireland Assembly 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.

Last month, South Antrim DUP MLA Trevor Clarke 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, was due to be answered by Friday, February 20th.

But as of Monday afternoon, March 23, there had been no answer.

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.

It was recently revealed that the outcome of the public inquiry into abuse at the facility has been delayed from March 2026 until June.

In a Members’ Statement to the Assembly this week, Mr Clarke spoke in the Chamber on the issue, lamenting the delay in receiving an answer and also urging Mr Nesbitt for clarity and to dispel local rumours and ‘quell concerns’ that parts of the site could be used to house asylum seekers.

The Antrim Guardian asked the Belfast Trust if this was the case in February, and the Trust declined to comment.

In November 2025, Mr Clarke asked the Minister 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.

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.”