Ms Rosemary Keogh:

There are a number of questions there. I will do my best to answer them all in the time allowed. The first thing I will say when it comes to choice of service is that closing Cuisle is not a choice that the IWA wanted to make. If the building was safe and secure for use into the future this decision would not have been made. It was made because it is not safe to continue to operate a service there and unfortunately we do not have the funding to rectify that and no State agency has been able to offer us that funding.

In terms of the service, we talk about how we will provide for people. We are providing this service fully in Kilkenny currently. We have people who visit the service in Kilkenny. I visited it earlier this year and stayed with a group of IWA guests who were there at the time whose needs varied from the very low to the very high. IWA staff are in the hotel with the visitors 24-7. IWA-trained personal assistants who are doing this type of work day in, day out and have been for many years are providing the service in the hotels to our guests. All of the equipment that is needed is provided by the IWA. We bring in fully adjustable hoists that will go from bed to bathroom and fully en suite rooms. We are providing clinical care and medication management. We are currently providing all of the services currently provided in Cuisle, albeit on a much smaller scale, in our service in Kilkenny. We will be able to replicate, develop and grow those services and continue to add more services to our members in the three new hotels we will be operating from March 2020.