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

The Minister of State is here and does her best to answer the questions. I expected that the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, would be here. This issue relates to the imminent closure of the Rosalie unit in Castlerea in County Roscommon. It is rather a sad evening for me to have to get to my feet once again to discuss this issue. The Ceann Comhairle has allowed me to raise this on many occasions since I became a Member of this House in 2016. The Rosalie centre had capacity for 33 people. It was a beautiful centre. They were people with mild mental health and disability issues, perhaps with Alzheimer's disease. They are people who very much needed somebody else to look after and care for them and to ensure that they were okay in life. Over recent years, little by little, the numbers were whittled down. It was at 34, it is now down to 12, and yesterday we had the announcement from the HSE's CHO 2 that it was to close.

This has been a bone of contention since 2016, when the HSE attempted to close the centre. The then Minister for Health, now Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and the then Minister of State, Kathleen Lynch, gave commitments at that time that this centre would not be closed. Last year, the director we were dealing with, Tony Canavan, called the elected members to a meeting in Roscommon town and told them that it was the intention of the HSE to close this unit. We fought it on many occasions. This is a beautiful centre, not a run-down building, with amazing staff. One thing that upsets people greatly is that people who have been here for many years, who are happy in their surroundings with their families close to hand to visit them, are having their centre closed. Their home is gone and many of them feel it. The Minister of State can imagine if she moved into a strange room herself, with different colours and of a different size. There is no question of being well looked after, since I know they will be, but the surroundings will completely change for these people. The HSE has told us that two will be moved immediately. Many will be moved locally over the next months to a local centre which is not too far from this one. The message from the families and from me and other political representatives is please to have this decision reversed. It is causing a lot of hurt and anger. It is a fantastic centre.

The experts will tell us that these people do not need any psychiatric care any more and that care to deal with old age or such is needed. I have a problem with that. Are the Minister, the Minister of State and experts saying that the medical staff are wrong? I am not saying that they are wrong but people have been in their home for many years. I have no doubt that when the Minister of State changes that environment, she causes them great distress and pain. I would appreciate the best answer the Minister of State can give me.

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