Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yes I am. I am in my office. Thanks for facilitating my participation from here. I thank everyone for their presentations today. I was struck by what was said about our tendency to think of dementia or Alzheimer's as being an older persons' disease but this is no longer the case. I would like our guests to tell us a little bit more about the needs of those with early onset dementia and those around them. They mentioned that their needs are different to those of people for whom onset is after 65. What are those needs and how are they currently being met? All of our guests today have outlined the additional resources and supports that are needed but where are we at in terms of support in that particular area?

Reference was made to the recruitment freeze. Are there any specific examples of projects that have been paused or held back or which are in stasis due to the recruitment freeze? Obviously we know that people are not being hired but are there any specific projects or services that are now in limbo because of the freeze? If so, perhaps our guests could allude to the impact that will have on those who need to receive that service.

I was also struck by the question about what people are getting dressed for. I have spoken to some of our guests previously about carers in a different context and the difficulty of trying to build a reason for getting up, sometimes for the carer and sometimes for the person receiving care. We have talked about mental capacity, well-being, depression and so on. Society needs to do more in terms of not seeing dementia as the end. We have a slightly different perspective on cancer, for example, so how do we, as a society, move ourselves towards that, notwithstanding all of the work that both Family Carers Ireland and the Alzheimer Society of Ireland are doing?