Ms Anna Cronin:

I am the secretary of the concerned citizens group in Loughrea and I would like to begin by thanking the Joint Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen for allowing time to listen to our group and providing this opportunity to present to the committee. I am joined by my colleague, our committee chair, Mr. Mattie Quinn, who will bring clarity to this issue through the PowerPoint presentation, a copy of which members have received. Members of the concerned citizens group have also been accommodated by the Oireachtas and are sitting in the Public Gallery. We appreciate their company and encouragement. Indeed, many members of our community have sent us messages of encouragement this morning. I received a message from a group of people in the Carmelite Abbey in Loughrea, who lit candles at 1.30 p.m. praying that what we want so urgently will be realised.

We are also joined here today by Councillors Geraldine Donohue, Declan Kelly and Shane Curley, Dr. Evelyn Parson and Deputy Seán Canney, who have stood shoulder to shoulder with us and advocated at every opportunity.

We are concerned local people and we represent more than 2,500 citizens from the town of Loughrea and its hinterland in County Galway, who object to the closure of the purpose-built daycare centre called Seven Springs. We are apolitical and come from all age groups and all walks of life, and include homemakers, carers, nurses, teachers, farmers and retired people. We ardently believe that the decision not to return the daycare centre to its pre-Covid service adversely affects one of the most vulnerable and deserving sectors in the community, people in the evening of their lives. The Seven Springs daycare centre was a home-from-home for many who experienced loneliness, isolation, lack of mobility and vulnerability in physical and mental respects. We, the community of Loughrea, have united in an effort to right what we believe is a totally wrong decision.

The daycare centre was designed for the optimum benefit of its attendees and greatly enhanced their quality of life. It was a holistic service, assessing need, meeting that need with a care plan, bringing hope, friendship, caring and support to people's lives. It was a vital forum for the elderly to express concerns and domestic problems as, sadly, elder abuse is now on the increase. The benefits were many. It enabled people to remain in their homes thereby lessening the need for residential care. It also gave carers some respite.

As I sat having coffee this morning, it dawned on me that I am a carer. I have a 37-year-old son who has Down’s syndrome. He has always been part of our lives and has never been in residential care. We are facilitated in looking after our dear Patrick by his going to a daycare centre run by the Brothers of Charity from 9.30 a.m. until 3.30 p.m. five days a week. Patrick is an integral part of our lives. He is our gift. Not to have that respite, life might be very different for us and for Patrick.

Mr. Quinn will give details of the Seven Springs, our purpose-built centre and what was offered when our voices were raised at the failure to reopen the centre after Covid-19. He will detail what is now being promised, a space in what was the old workhouse. I am familiar with that area because I was a nurse there. I had the privilege of caring for patients there in the 1970s and 1980s. While I was there, a lady named Mrs. Nora Topping was there. She became familiar with the county home as it was.

She saw patients in an area that once was part of the dreaded workhouse and, through her generosity, she helped create in 1979 a stand-alone day care centre built in co-operation with Dr. Martin Dyar, who was a medical officer, and Sr. Mary Casey, matron of St. Brendan’s county home. Both are gone to their eternal reward now. This stand-alone day centre was demolished 30 years later by the HSE, and replaced in 2011 by St. Brendan’s community nursing unit and the Seven Springs day care centre. It became an integral part of people’s lives and for many, the highlight of their lives. Mrs Topping’s name lives on in the town of Loughrea through the Topping Trust, which is registered with the Charities Regulator. I will conclude my introduction with the wise words of Mahatma Gandhi:"The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members."