Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Every week I see the importance of and the vital role played by community support in helping older people to stay living at home independently and to age in place in their communities. If one speaks to anybody in Ireland, all they want to do is to be able to remain at home for as long as possible. I am very proud of the fact that, being Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people, Ireland has the highest life expectancy in the whole of the EU, as deemed by the World Health Organization. We do the social care model very well. I continue to be committed to working to develop these services to ensure they are available where needed across the country. They are needed in Youghal.

One thing I have always put a focus on since I was appointed Minister of State was the postcode lottery. Day services in a town the size of Youghal in that part of the country are very important because the town has a large catchment area. Even though there are fantastic supports in Midleton and in Cobh; these are too far to travel to for some people.

I would like to see us getting a service up and running as quickly as possible and I want to work with the Deputy on that. I understand that whatever the HSE will propose on that site would be state-of-the-art but my concern is that that will take quite a while. I would like to see an interim solution in the meantime perhaps even, as I noted earlier, starting with three days a week in order that older people living in the Youghal area could have access to a day centre. The day centre is so important post Covid with regard to the amount of loneliness and depression being experienced. People love meeting up with their friends, having the nutritious meal and all the supports that are provided, whether it be music, cards or activities. This is something I am not going to walk away from tonight and I am going to push this very hard. It is very important. There are a few areas I have pinpointed that need day centres and Youghal is one of them.

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