Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No. My understanding is that there was a meeting about it many months ago, but I will come back to the Deputy with the dates and the detail of those meetings.

Regarding dementia care more generally, the national dementia strategy implementation programme agreed by the Department of Health, the HSE and Atlantic Philanthropies committed €27.5 million for a number of specific actions. The majority of that funding was for the roll-out of dementia-specific intensive home care packages. A total of 316 people have benefited from the dementia-specific intensive home care packages to allow them continue living in their homes.

On the Deputy's questions about the upcoming budget and the prioritisation of this sector, that is an issue he will have an opportunity to contribute to in the wider budget debate. I acknowledge there are gaps in dementia supports in different parts of the country, but when the HSE makes decisions on individual care homes, it is doing so in the interests of the patients and their care. That should be the only consideration when moving people from one facility to another.

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