Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Cronin and Mr. Quinn very much. They have made their case wonderfully and beautifully while being in no way aggressive about it. We can see how much this means to them and their friends in that particular area. I wish Ms Cronin well with her son. She is obviously an amazing person. I will not go back over questions that have already been asked but I acknowledge the role of Councillors Curley, Parsons, Kelly and Sheridan. They really are solid people who will support the witnesses the whole way.

I am involved with a day care centre in my own town of Strokestown, County Roscommon. There are five of us who run it. What we have done down through the years is we have entered into an agreement with a local establishment and taken a building. It is actually outside of the town, in the country. The reason I mention this is that there is a lake right beside the building where there is quite a lot of holiday activity. It means a great deal to the people who use it. My own mother uses the place two or three times a week. It opens six days a week. From being involved in that committee and having a family member who uses the centre, I can very much understand how important these centres are.

This story is incredible. I have been talking to Deputy Canney and others about the facilities that are there and how good they are, listening to the case being made by councillors, reading up about it and that type of thing. It is just incredible that anybody would try to close the building down and move the facility into a hotel. That is not the right setting for it. We have a very good relationship with the HSE in our area. It gives us a lot of support. We run the centre but it checks it out and gives us the money to run it.

However, I cannot understand, after everything people have gone through with Covid and other challenges, why the HSE would not reopen that centre. I will fully support the people there, their elected representatives, Deputy Canney, the witnesses and everyone else in the area. I will support the other regions as well. This has to be changed. I will be talking to John Fitzmaurice of the HSE in the coming days about another matter. He has said the HSE will look at why it was being paused. I will make the case strongly for the witnesses. I thank them for coming here and making their case so well. We have to look after these people. They have done their service for the country. I am addressing the ladies as well. I hope they are saying good things about me. They have served their country well and deserve a little bit of space and these kinds of centres, which mean so much to them.