Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They also mentioned that one in three of people with dementia did not have it diagnosed. It goes to show the scale of the challenge facing us. I presume the figures here would be similar. We do not really know because we do not have a register. That is something that the committee could follow up on.

Based on the figures quoted in 2017, we were talking about 11 people every day being diagnosed with dementia which is frightening. The message the witnesses are giving this morning is that people can live a full life with dementia. Mr. Dunne mentioned that his mother has mild dementia with delirium coming on. No individual with this disease is affected in the same way. He probably does not want to go into the detail of that.

I can only imagine the heartbreak it must cause a family when someone they love does not recognise them. A person you have spent all your life with might wake up one day and not recognise you. It is about trying to find a way to deal with that. That is where the supports need to come in.

Is the key message for people to keep the mind active? Financial matters have been discussed. If a person goes into a nursing home and their mind is not kept active, does that have an impact? I know that in the North, there are singing clubs. Are there similar clubs here?