Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If it is all right with the Tánaiste, I will direct my question to the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, because he is familiar with the issue I wish to raise. I again refer to the Rosalie unit in Castlerea, County Roscommon. I acknowledge that the Minister of State has engaged on the issue over a long period of time. In recent days independent assessments of the remaining 11 patients in the unit were carried out. In some cases, patients' relatives received very short notice, about which they are not happy. In two or three cases advocates were called in when family members could not attend. Will the Minister of State ensure the patients in those two or three cases are reassessed in the presence of their relatives? In the context of the programme for Government, will the Minister of State ask the HSE to consider reopening the unit and operating it at its full capacity of 33 patients, bearing in mind that, per head of population, County Roscommon has the highest incidence of Alzheimer's disease in the country.

See this speech in context