Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise with the Tánaiste the future care of 12 older people with dementia living in the Rosalie home in Castlerea, County Roscommon. The Rosalie home is a continuing care facility for the psychiatry of later life patients. While the Health Service Executive, HSE, was still in denial last Friday, the families involved had to hear about the definite decision to close the home on local radio on Monday morning of this week when the HSE's chief officer for the west, Tony Canavan, made clear in no uncertain terms that the home will be closed. That is despite commitments made by the HSE to be open and to communicate fully with families, something it has consistently failed to do.

This upheaval is not new for the residents of the Rosalie home and their loved ones. In 2015, the future of the home was also uncertain. That was until the Minister of State with responsibility at the time, the former Minister of State, Kathleen Lynch, made three commitments to the families, namely, that those in the home could see out the rest of their days in the home, that the home would form part of the HSE plans for dementia care in the region, and that the families would be kept informed at all times. It now appears those commitments either mean nothing or that the Minister of State and the HSE have shredded them. The HSE and the Tánaiste's Government have made the decision to close the home. That was announced without any consultation or clarity for families as to the future care needs of their loved ones.

We all know that this is their home. It is where they are happy and content. It is where they are cared for and looked after and it is where they are comfortable and familiar with their surroundings and with the staff who care for them, yet none of this appears to matter to the HSE and, with respect, to the Tánaiste's Government. The families, once again, are being left waiting.

Will the Tánaiste give clarity to the families as to what will happen to their loved ones? Will he explain the reason the Rosalie home is being closed and the reason this decision has been made before the external review of the clinical assessment is complete?

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