Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I am sorry for cutting across Mr. Fitzgerald but I am conscious of the time. The HSE's opening statement mentioned A Vision for Change. We have a catchment area of over 94,000 people in east Cork. The HSE is obliged to provide a service when areas reach around 100,000 people. We are fairly close to that and yet it is moving services back into the city, even to the far side of the city, and there is no mention of east Cork or Midleton. I cannot fathom that. Mr. Fitzgerald also mentioned discussions with families. One person - I will obviously not mention names - told me that they were due to have their third meeting with the HSE today. They asked in advance who would be present and again they got no information. There is something happening there. I have also been informed that there is no cohesion between family members and residents in the centre.

They are not being met together. I do not know what is happening with the communication there.

There is another thing I want to find out. Mr. Fitzgerald said the building was not fit for purpose in July, yet did he say there are 15 residents there? We now have July, August, September, October, November and December and it seems it is still fit for purpose and the HSE can magically cure the building defects by putting in extra staff. I do not accept that. That is why I am very angry. I cannot understand why everything seems to be moving away from east Cork. I cannot believe it. I refer to Kanturk and public transport. Many of these people are elderly. The HSE is taking away these people's freedom. No matter what the HSE says, it just keeps coming up with excuses to the effect that it is doing X, Y and Z, everything will be great and it will put in more of this, that and the other but it is not putting it into the pot in east Cork. That is what I am trying to say. It is going from Cork city all the way over to north Cork. The east Cork catchment area all the way down to the Waterford border is huge and we will be left with no services.

I will ask three simple questions. First, because I want the people outside of the committee to listen and to hear what the witnesses' answer is, will the Owenacurra centre close indefinitely with the loss of all the respite beds? Second, when will the HSE replace those respite beds in Midleton to serve the people of east Cork? If it will not do so, why not? Third, I appeal to the other Deputies here because there are Deputies at this meeting who are part of the Government and I am blue in the face from raising this with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly. I ask those Deputies to go back to their party representatives and to appeal on behalf of the people of east Cork to keep the services there open. It is not the building; it is the service itself. We all know - let us be honest and call a spade a spade - that if those long-term respite beds are gone, they are gone. The witnesses should not tell us that fewer people are getting sick and that there will be less demand on services. That is an absolute crapshow. My God, if we could predict this, we would have a lot of things cured, whether dental services or GP services, so the witnesses should not spin that to people.

Finally, I cannot figure out how the HSE can go and find the money for a building, purchase it and start refurbishing it on the north side of the city, again miles away from east Cork, yet it could not find a suitable site in Midleton or even carry out works on the same site. It could have probably put in temporary respite beds in Youghal and Fermoy because the demand for these services will always remain but it just chose to say, "No, we will close it." I mean no disrespect to the previous speaker. Yes, putting in community living for the elderly is a brilliant idea but if the HSE cannot find the money to refurbish a place, I do not know where it will find the money to start building houses for these people.

I ask the witnesses to answer my questions honestly if they can. Are these services in Midleton to go? Are they coming back? Will they be replaced? I do not think they will be. I do not want the people in east Cork or Midleton or those people with residents in that centre to waste their good energy asking for it to be kept open if the HSE has made up its mind to shut it.

I know I have three minutes left. I might come back in.