Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is the best and largest dementia care service anywhere in Ireland. The Minister and I both know it is under imminent threat of closure because the funds being provided by the State do not come anywhere close to covering the cost of the service it runs. The National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, has taken a look at the books of the centre and broadly agrees with the cost that it says is required, so it is not looking for anything that is not needed. The HSE has moved on day care, which is welcome, but that only accounts for 7% of the facility's budget. The other 93% is spent on residential care and the negotiations with the NTPF are going nowhere. The Minister has promised categorically, in the Dáil and on the airwaves, that St. Joseph's will stay open.