HSE Dublin and South East media release
5 December, 2025
The Memorial Garden project was launched on the grounds of St. Dympna’s Hospital in Carlow last week.
It follows on from the Woodland Garden project which was opened in June this year and visited by the Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD in July. This space was transformed from a disused corner of Supported Training Services site on the grounds of St. Dympna’s Hospital.
Both of the Woodland and Memorial Gardens projects were the culmination of programmes led by HSE Tutors and involving service users of the Carlow Mental Health Services attending ‘Skillbase’ Supported Training Services. These projects were co-funded by Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board (KCETB), through Solas ‘Reach’ programme funding and the HSE Dublin and South East.
The Memorial Garden resulted in a restoration of the cemetery located adjacent to the Woodland Garden, where a remembrance ceremony was held last week. The cemetery dates back to when St. Dympna’s Hospital opened in 1832 and appears to have been particularly in use between 1888 (when a dysentery epidemic affected the hospital) and 1918 (when a severe pneumonia outbreak occurred there). A stone plaque (unveiled by a large Yew tree there in 2010) is all that marked the cemetery, as it didn’t contain headstones. Searches of records haven’t accurately established how many are buried in it but it is thought to be between 40 and 50.
Geraldine Maher (Service Co-Ordinator, Supported Training Services, Carlow Mental Health Services, HSE Dublin and South East) says, upon completion of the Woodlands Garden project, there was a consensus that the cemetery as a space should be revamped and to further honour the memory of those interred there.
Following some landscaping, with minimal invasion, flower beds were planted and timber and steel kerbing put in place. An Ogham Stone was placed at its centre, inscribed to reflect words chosen by programme participants: Áit (place), Mothú (feeling/emotions), Pobal (the people of the place), Samhín Só (comfort and ease) and Fadó (the past/long ago) to honour all those who rest there.
Participants in the project created ‘The Stone of the Gathered Hands was for the living’. Into that slate, each participant carved their hand - their palm, their fingers, their mark - as if each hammer blow were an acknowledgement, each strike an act of pride in who they were, each cut a declaration: ‘I was here. I remember’. Four stained glass installations were also created, in addition to the history of the cemetery and St. Dympna’s Hospital being displayed on a history board.
‘Skillbase’ Supportive Training Service participants were aided along the way by KCETB tutors Martin Matthews (stonemason), Paschal Fitzpatrick (stained glass artist) and John Cooney (Heritage). Geraldine Maher was joined from the HSE by Liz Browne, Monica Fleming, Michael McGuinness and Katherine Sullivan in facilitating the works and participation.
The ribbon to the Memorial Garden was cut on Thursday by Liz Browne (a Horticulturist with the HSE Dublin and South East) and Fiona Dunne (Community Education Facilitator, KCETB). An ecumenical blessing followed, along with readings and songs from the choir of ‘Skillbase’ participants.
Speaking at the opening of the St. Dympna’s Memorial Garden, Geraldine Maher said:
“The Woodlands Garden inspired the restoration of the adjacent cemetery, with our ‘can do’ attitude, skill transfer, student buy-in, motivated staff and collaborative approach all helping to bring this project to fruition.”
“We have, in our valued partnership with the Kilkenny Carlow Education and Training Board, created something beautiful in this space and the Memorial Garden is a fitting remembrance of those whose final resting place it is.”
Last updated on: 05 / 12 / 2025
