Construction to start on Mayo's Sunflower Children’s Hospice in January
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has praised the families whose experiences shaped the design of the Sunflower Children’s Hospice.
THE sod was turned on the Castlebar site this morning, with construction set to commence in January.
Well over a hundred people attended the momentous occasion, which comes less than a year after the Sunflower Children’s Hospice was launched in 2025. In that time the project has raised €9 million in donations.
Speaking at the event, Minister Carroll MacNeill said she was “constantly amazed” by the generosity and altruism of Irish people.
Nowhere was that better shown, she said, than in the collaboration between parents and Mayo Roscommon Hospice, which has been “totally informed by the parents’ wishes”.
She said the families “need a serious standing ovation” for what they had done.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said none of us knows when a child or grandchild might need “extra special healthcare”.
That, she said, is what the hospice will provide: joy, comfort, care and love for children and their families when life becomes very difficult.
She said hospice CEO Martina Jennings had set the ambition last year of turning the sod within a year.
“I like a lady who’s on time and under budget,” she said, adding that Ms Jennings had delivered on that promise.
She also praised the HSE, Mayo County Council and the hospice board for working constructively to overcome barriers and make this vision a reality.
Ms Jennings said: “Today is a good day. A promise made is now a reality.” Every cent donated had been respected.
She paid tribute to workshops with families that helped bring the project’s design to fruition.
She singled out the Dunford family, who told her “don’t forget the children” when work began on the hospices in Castlebar and Roscommon.
The line stayed with Martina Jennings, and Friday’s sod turning capped more than a year of work towards turning the first children’s hospice outside Dublin into a reality.
Minister Dara Calleary described the hospice’s volunteers as the “Sunflower army”.
He said the project showed the meitheal in action, people coming together for a common purpose.
Noting that Andy Moran and Aidan O’Shea were among those in attendance, and long-term supporters of Mayo Roscommon Hospice, he said that with Mayo having won the All-Ireland, the hospice was a second miracle, as big as, if not bigger than winning Sam Maguire.
He said the hospice may not change outcomes but will change the journey for families who have had to make a six-hour round trip to Dublin to receive care.
The sod-turning marks a landmark moment in the development of specialist paediatric palliative care services in Ireland, following the granting of planning permission last month.
Developed by Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation, the €20 million project will be the first children’s hospice to be built outside Dublin, providing dedicated specialist care and support for children with life-limiting conditions and their families across eight counties along the western seaboard. Construction is expected to begin in January 2027, with the hospice scheduled to open in 2029.
The build is proposed to take 2 years and MVS Construction have been awarded the main contract.