David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, Chair, for the invitation to attend and I thank the members of the HSE for attending as well. Like my colleagues, Deputies Buckley and O'Connor, I also attended the meeting in Midleton last night. In my almost 25 years in the Oireachtas I have never been to so sad a meeting; there were so many upset people. They were not all directly associated with families who had residents in the centre. They were people from the community who attended to give their support. There was some anger as well, but a great deal of sadness, upset and concern. I raised this in the Dáil last Thursday as a Topical Issue. What I wanted to know, first, is the future of the service. There are three parts to the service. Deputy Sherlock referred to the respite part, which is not technically known as respite but I understand that every two weeks two residents use the centre for respite purposes. There is also a residential centre and the day care. Could Mr. Fitzgerald provide certainty with regard to the three services and that they will be retained in the town? As my colleagues said, they serve not just the town of Midleton but also Cobh, Youghal and as far as Glenville. It is a massive area of east Cork which is, in fact, the size of some counties.

The second issue is that this was notified to us last June. I have been told by some of the families that realistic engagement with families did not happen until last week, and one member said that it is not going well. Of the 19 residents there, with how many has agreement been reached at this stage that they would move to another location, whereby the families, residents and the HSE are happy? Where are we now in respect of the 19?