Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. Sadly, the response prepared for her on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, is inadequate. The Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, said that the report showed there were anomalies in the service, that it was GP-only, that there was no psychiatrist, multidisciplinary team or clinical staff beyond a GP. There were chipped tiles and other issues. At no point did the report say that these services should not be provided. Our responsibility is to provide psychiatry, a multidisciplinary team, and a GP, to change the tiles, to clean the place up and to make the improvements and investments required. We have not done that but have decided to close it. What does the euphemism "more appropriate to the care needs of the family" mean? The families I have spoken to have been told to get their loved ones out of the place. That has nothing to do with A Vision for Change. Of course we want to support people to remain in their own homes when they can be cared for at home but we are talking about people who have been there for ten or 20 years. How could a place decide that a person is going somewhere else? As of Monday, the HSE was not in a position to tell the two families who I am in contact with where those people are even going.

This is driven by the budget under the cover of a lie that it is associated with A Vision for Change. It certainly is not associated with A Vision for Change and it is no excuse for the lack of investment in resources and clinical support that was identified by the Mental Health Commission in 2016. We cannot use these as excuses for our ineptness - something needs to be done. I appeal to the Minister of State to raise this at the highest level in Cabinet to ensure this unit remains open. The investment, resources and required clinical support should be made available and the people in the north-west region should have a support, not just for respite for those Alzheimer's disease patients, but also for those patients who are not capable of being looked after in their own home any more. I thank the Minister of State for her time but I must say, without any disrespect to her, that the response prepared is totally inadequate in the circumstances.

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