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

I thank Deputy Clarke again. I am not one for sound bites at all. I am more a person of action in respect of understanding exactly what is going wrong behind the system. The Deputy is right in everything she said. I will not contradict one bit of it. I will talk about the MRC for one moment, however. I went to the MRC with the Ministers of State, Deputies Burke and Troy, in August and September. I met with parents, families and friends of the MRC. I was at the Bridge House and the Millennium House, I think, and I was out to the MRC building itself. On the day of my visit, I queried the fact that it was going to be used as a testing centre. That was contrary to what many parents had requested for the service users. I was told it was an essential service and led to believe that the building was not up to standard.

I met with officials from HSE CHO 8 three times regarding the MRC and I am due another update next week. I requested that meeting for the simple reason that if the building was good enough for service users prior to Covid-19, I am at a loss to understand why it is not good enough during Covid-19 when we have a shortage of capacity for service users and we are looking for space. I appreciate we are trying to move in new directions, but we have a shortage of space. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, sourced the band hall to try to help with accommodation while works were going on in Bridge House.

To bring Deputy Clarke up to speed regarding the MRC, I have already organised another meeting which will take place next week. The head of CHO 8 is meeting me, along with different people in the Department and the HSE. That will be a complete and comprehensive meeting, and not a taking of the box exercise as carried out last May. I refer to the deeming of the building as unfit. That was a different meaning of the word "unfit" when compared with a description based on a proper score chart.

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