Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Cheann Chomhairle, as ucht an ábhair seo a roghnú. Tá sé práinneach agus tá sé tábhachtach. Faraor géar, tá orm an cheist seo a ardú arís agus arís. In ainneoin na ngeallúintí sollúnta a tugadh dom go mbeadh an t-ionad lae seo oscailte, níl sé oscailte fós. Tá sé dúnta anois ó 2020. Bhí fadhbanna roimhe sin. Bhí an córas ar an eolas go raibh fadhbanna ó thaobh easpa foirne. Tháinig Covid-19 agus tuigim go raibh deacrachtaí ann ina thaobh ach ní thuigim cad atá tarlaithe ó shin. In ainneoin go bhfuil sé ráite ó mhí na Nollag agus go ndúradh liom go raibh siad ar tí é a oscailt ag tús na bliana 2023, tá sé fós dúnta. Ag dul siar, i mí Márta na bliana seo, bhí cur i láthair iontach ó na feidhmeannaigh maidir le réimse leathan de sheirbhísí. Maidir leis an ionad lae seo, dúradh liom go mbeadh sé oscailte. Sin mí an Mhárta agus chuir siad in iúl dom cé chomh tábhachtach is a bhí sé seirbhís mar seo do sheanóirí a bheith ar fáil agus gur nasc iontach leis an bpobal a bheadh ann. Bhí gach rud ráite. B’fhéidir go raibh mé beagáinín soineanta ach chreid mé iad. D’imigh mé as an gcur i láthair sin agus bhí beagáinín dóchas agam. Is i mí an Mhárta a bhí an cur i láthair sin a chuir in iúl dom go raibh an t-ionad chun oscailt. Ansin tá sraith litreacha eile agam anseo a chuireann in iúl nach mbeidh sé ag oscailt sa tseanbhealach ach go mbeidh múnla nua i gceist. Níl sé oscailte fós.

As the Minister of State knows, this issue of the absence of a day centre is important. The day centre in Carraroe, in the heart of the Gaeltacht, has been inexplicably closed since the pandemic. I understand there was a pandemic. The Minister of State and I have had a few interactions and I have said repeatedly on the record that she is hard working. I would appreciate it if she did not read out the reply she has been given by the Department. I am well able to read. We were given solemn promises that the day centre would reopen. I was told in December it was going to reopen in January. I was told at a presentation that it was going to open very shortly. That presentation lasted for an hour and a half or two hours. It was wonderful. It was all about day services and all the other services, specifically in respect of Carraroe. We were down to the nitty-gritty of the Irish language and whether the facility would be able to get staff who could speak it. That was the meticulousness of the discussion in March. Now I have a whole library of correspondence telling me there is a new way of going forward and that the day centre will no longer be operating the way it was. It will now be following a social model, which completely ignores the medical needs of vulnerable people in their 70s, 80s and 90s who utterly rely on a day service for many reasons. I do not need to tell the Minister of State that. I am suddenly being told there is a new social model that is in existence elsewhere. The social model that is operating has advantages but what is the model for the people who need more assistance and who need nursing and social care? What is the model for that treatment? It seems that we are running down the service. We have let problems continue. I received a lot of correspondence before the pandemic when it suited to close the day centre because there was a lack of staff and so on. It is a vital service. I ask the Minister of State to talk to me woman to woman, Minister of State to Deputy, about the importance of this service and when it is going to reopen on a full-time basis.

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