Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Dr. Kelleher does not need to apologise to anyone here for getting upset. It is the system that should be apologising to her, her family and other families around the country. I apologise for not recognising Ms Curtis as being the person who brought this petition to us. The system is wrong. Dr. Kelleher is not wrong for worrying about her aunt, Anna, nor is any other family. It makes me angry as well because we have seen what is happening at St. Brigid's in Carrick-on-Suir, whose representatives we hope to speak to after the recess. There was no mention of St. Brigid's being unfit for purpose when we were told it was closing and staff were being moved due to Covid. It was not until the hospital was closed that problems with the building suddenly started appearing, something along the lines of what happened at Owenacurra.

As Deputy Buckley mentioned, there is talk of one of the possible solutions being a building from the 1950s. I was involved in building for 40 years and I assure the committee that, if there is asbestos in Owenacurra, then there is asbestos in the building that patients are possibly going to be placed in. I have no doubt about that whatsoever because that is what was being used at the time.

I agree with Senator Buttimer. We will invite the Mental Health Commission, or anyone else, to a meeting. HIQA was involved in St. Brigid's in the end. Despite requesting the engineer's report that says that the building is not fit for purpose, we did not get it or we failed to get adequate answers as to why Owenacurra, or anywhere else, was being closed down. In one of our meetings with the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people, we were told that a further 350 beds were to be cut in the area's services. That will affect more small places like Owenacurra, St. Brigid's and so on. One of the solutions for St. Brigid's was to move them into private nursing homes, but that was no good to families. We have no public transport in south Tipperary, so a patient could be moved 25 miles away and family could not get there. I am sure that Dr. Kelleher's family visits daily. Families are visiting people in all of these hospitals daily. Suddenly, they are being told that their family members are being moved 25 or 30 miles away. That is not good enough.

I do not have further questions, but no member of the committee will disagree with me when I say that it is great to see how much Dr. Kelleher cares for her family member. She must not apologise to anyone for fighting to keep her aunt where she is happy and can be looked after. From listening to Deputy Buckley, Dr. Kelleher and Senator Buttimer, Owenacurra is a place that looks after family members, so they should not apologise to anyone for fighting to keep it open.