Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will continue in the same vein as Deputy O'Sullivan in speaking about Tuam because it is my constituency and I hold my clinics there. Owing to the age factor, these people require an awful lot of supports. There are ways in which we can assist them. The counselling service and the wellbeing programme are essential but people are not able to access them or get feedback on the funding because they cannot afford it.

Not all of the small towns around the county offer the opportunity for these people to access these services so they have to avail of taxis. I ask the Minister that she at least place a dedicated person within each of the various CHOs, someone to whom people could be directed to go so that we can streamline matters and facilitate these people with some quick wins. This is what they need because they do not believe that anyone is listening. They do not believe that their voices are being heard. The helicopter view of this is so big that people have to be able to look to themselves. They have to be able to talk about it. They are glad that everybody else is talking about it and recognising their hurt but they feel that they now need the opportunity to tell their own story. This could be through the well-being programme, which I strongly welcomed at the time. We need to fast-track this opportunity and we also need to fast-track housing, as some of these people are not living in the best of conditions. They need the county councils to work with them to fast-track matters, be it through programmes for older people with disabilities or for people who have resided in mother and baby homes or in various other institutions. Perhaps the Minister will work with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to find a solution to this.

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