Ms Rosemary Keogh:

The Senator asks if the board of the Irish Wheelchair Association was preparing for the closure. In 2018, the board of the Irish Wheelchair Association agreed to invest in developing the sales and marketing and branding of Cuisle. We put in €65,000 of the IWA's money to do the initial remedial works as a demonstration of our commitment to continuing the service but that was always going to be contingent on us having the money. We deal with the HSE and we are contracted to provide services for it. We went to public representatives who referred us back to the HSE and we have gone through the channels we are required to work under as part of the service arrangements process. It was always our intention to keep Cuisle open and there was no long-term plan to close it. I restate that everybody in the IWA, including the staff, board, management and, most important, the guests and service users of the centre are devastated about where we have come to.