Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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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.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. Tuigim an cheist. I have put my heart and soul into reopening day care centres the length and breadth of the country. More than 300 day care centres are open and last Friday, we opened the 46th dementia-specific day care centre. Another will be opening soon in the Ceann Comhairle's area. We are looking forward to that.

The Deputy will know that the HSE has operational responsibility for planning, managing and delivering health and personal social services. A wide range of core services are provided for older people, including home support, day care, community supports in partnership with voluntary groups and intermediate care, as well as long-stay residential care when remaining at home is no longer feasible. I see the triangle of supports to support older people to stay at home as the following - day care, home care and meals on wheels. That is the vital triangle of support. It is important. These services are fundamental to the health and well-being of our older population.

We all understand that access to day centres can make an important contribution. Older people benefit from the physical activity, cognitive stimulation, enhanced nutrition, healthcare monitoring and social work support. I have visited day care centres the length and breadth of the country and have only ever been in one where a nurse was present. It is a social care model of which we are proud, to support people to go to day care centres to have hot nutritional meals. Supports can be provided to anybody who has issues with clothing or who needs to be bathed. All those supports are still in place.

Day centres are also an important indirect resource for carers. What day care centres do is important to lonely people who have found it hard to reconnect. Their reopening as quickly and as safely as possible remains a priority. We are seeing progress in their reopening with about 91% of services reopened to date. The national service plan sets a target to have 95% reopened, with a stretch target of 98%, by the end of the year. The only day care centres in the country that have not reopened are those adjacent to or associated with a community nursing unit. The HSE has advised that day care services in Áras Mhic Dara, which were provided before the pandemic in the communal areas for residents of the community nursing unit, cannot be provided again in their previous manner due to regulatory and infection control compliance requirements. An alternative area within the centre has been identified and the plan was for the HSE to resume the service on a phased basis, initially for one day per week.

It is expected that the day care service will eventually be able to cater for eight to ten people.

No HSE day services are provided on a walk-in basis and require a referral by a healthcare professional. Áras Mhic Dara day care service was scheduled to reopen on 10 May, however the HSE had only received one referral at that time. As a result, the reopening date was postponed until 17 May. However, by that time it had still not received any further referrals. The HSE has assured me that if additional referrals are received, the service will reopen with haste. HSE healthcare professionals working in the community will ensure residents of the surrounding area are made aware that the service is available and the HSE hopes to see additional referrals within the coming months. In addition, this message will be communicated through local media, which is important.

Twenty-one day care centres have reopened in Galway. I am conscious of Áras Mhic Dara and have asked my officials to monitor the position and advise me of developments. It is important that the word gets out to the community that the day care service will reopen if there are enough people to use it.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Honestly, I despair. It is 11.50 p.m. I absolutely despair. The day centre was opened for one day and absolutely nobody was informed. We have to get some honesty from the HSE. I desperately tried to work with it. I went to a presentation in March, as I told the Minister of State. Representatives of the HSE told me the centre was going to reopen. They did not tell me anything about a new model. That only emerged in April. Does the Minister of State understand? They kept telling us it was going to reopen. They said it was a vital service and then began to change their minds. I have looked at the HIQA report. I know HIQA does not inspect day centres-----

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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It does not.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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-----but, suspiciously, it has been out three times. It has produced two reports and I am waiting on a third. The earlier report, which was published the year before last, included mention of a day centre. The next report did not mention a day centre. It seems to me that the HSE is utterly failing in its duty. There was a lot more honesty in the past. Let me refer to the words of an official, who I will not name, in 2018. In reply to an email, he stated the HSE cannot get agency nurses. This was in July 2018. The part for which I am praising the man was where he mentioned it was most regrettable that the most vulnerable in the area were the ones most affected.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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How many were attending the place before it was closed?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Approximately 15 were attending.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Was that on a daily basis?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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That was on a daily basis every day.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Where did they go?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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That is the question. I have any amount of emails begging me to draw attention to what was happening prior to the pandemic because of problems with staffing. The day centre was allowed to go so the nursing home could keep opening. The beds in the nursing home are empty. This was a wonderful facility that got praise from HIQA. It failed to be compliant on two of the criteria but I do not need to go into that now. It got super praise but also had to take remedial action. The day centre is vital for the Gaeltacht and the language. The way it is being minimised and reduced to a social model somewhere else does not recognise its importance to the area in keeping people healthy while reducing the pressure on the hospitals and so on. Clearly, some people need both nursing and social care in a day centre.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I am extremely proud of the social care model we have in Ireland.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am not arguing about that.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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We run a social care model for day care and meals on wheels. I was abroad last year, representing Ireland as the Minister of State with responsibility for older people, at an event organised by the UN that included approximately 40 different ministers. The number of people who came to talk to me about the social care model we have in Ireland was unbelievable. There is still a medical model in, for example, the UK.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Excuse me for interrupting but I am not arguing with the Minister of State about that. I am arguing about what I was told by the HSE. I apologise for interrupting.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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That is no problem. The only area we are challenged is in respect of day care centres that are part of or associated with a community nursing unit. These are residential facilities and it is no longer appropriate to bring people from the community into a community nursing unit because believe it or not, we are still dealing with Covid-19 in those areas, as well as other respiratory illnesses and flu. The situation has changed. At a previous time, people could come in from the community.

They were able to share the same dining rooms and the same sitting rooms. That is no longer possible. In that case, and not only in Áras Mhic Dara but all over the country, the 7% or 8% of nursing home day care centres that we have not been able to open are still closed because they are associated with a HSE community nursing unit. I have asked those that are open to put more of an effort into communicating with older people residing within the local community to let them know that they are open, and they have done this. Obviously, they did not know it was open because they would have come if they had known. In addition, the message will be communicated through local media. Since day care centres reopened, we have seen that not as many people are attending them as before. People are finding it harder to reconnect. People who used to attend three or four days a week are now happier with one or two days a week. For this reason, many of our day care centres are only open three days a week.

I think this is the fifth time that Deputy Connolly has raised this. I know she is frustrated but I will make sure the information will go out. I am keeping on top of this. As soon as they have the appropriate numbers - they have said eight is appropriate - the day care centre will open. I know the Deputy will do her bit to advertise that fact on her own media platforms.