Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I am sure that the Minister of State knows of many great communities in Cork. One of the great communities I am aware of is in Kildare, that being, the community of Ballyteague, Allenwood, Kilmeage, Robertstown and Milltown. It is a great community that comes together. Unfortunately, it is now more than three months since the Allenwood daycare centre closed its doors in Ballyteague GFC. This closure has had an immense impact on the older people who attend the centre. According to their family members, they are regressing and deteriorating. For many attendees, this centre was their social lifeline and a way of staying connected with their neighbours, community and friends. This move definitely flies in the face of Sláintecare. We should be keeping people in their communities and keeping them close to their vital community connections, friends and services rather than closing centres such as the Allenwood daycare centre in Ballyteague GFC. I listened to my local radio station, KFM, and some testimonies of those using the centre. One was from Gabrielle Dempsey who is 80 years young. She said she missed the cups of tea and the chats. She said it was heartbreaking that people could not go back.

The community feels let down by the Government and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. They are disheartened and feel there is a process of bureaucracy that their families are suffering under. From speaking to people on the ground, the impact of the closure goes beyond the attendees. It also affects the family members, wives, husbands and family carers of those who use the centre. I have been informed that, in the three months since the centre closed, four service users have gone to nursing homes and two have been hospitalised.

I thank Karen Gorey and many members of the community, including Frank Moran, who have continued to advocate on this matter. I acknowledge, as I am sure the Minister of State will tell me in his reply, that the HSE has organised places for people to attend another daycare centre in Kildare town four days a week. Through the work that other public representatives and I have done, the HSE will also provide transport for those people. Thirteen of those using the Ballyteague centre have accepted but five have not. Those five are a worry for the community, but so are the 13 who have accepted. The community centre in Allenwood in Ballyteague GFC was a lifeline for all the people using it. It was where they met their friends and, as Gabrielle Dempsey said, where they had a cup of tea and a chat, but it has been taken away from them. For the life of us, we cannot understand why it cannot be reopened. I have dealt with the HSE and thanked it for its replies. It tells me that the new centre in Killmeage will be completed in June, but the problem is these older people cannot wait until June. The Minister of State will be aware of the detrimental impact that loneliness can have on older people, given the lack of social contact and contact with friends. The interviews on KFM were all about people who use the centre asking the family carers if they could go back to the centre.

That is what was said, time and time again on my local radio station. They do not want to go to Kildare town. They want to go back to where they know best, to their familiar surroundings where they can meet their friends, have that cup of tea, have the chat. That was in Ballyteague GFC. I cannot understand for the life of me why it cannot be reopened. I hope the Minister of State will bring some good news today.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Wall for raising this issue. Clearly he is in touch with the community there and is aware of the anguish that this type of move causes, the anxiety not just among the residents and their families but the community too, as people are worried about the future of residents. I wish to assure the Deputy that every effort will be made to ensure that proper care is given and that they are accommodated.

The new programme for Government has highlighted the importance of our community services for older people, which assist them to remain independent and live in their own homes with dignity and independence for as long as possible. Many older people living at home rely on the services they receive through day centres and the outreach those centres provide, which often includes meals on wheels services. Allenwood daycare centre is a HSE-funded service in Kildare that was managed and operated by the St. Vincent de Paul through a service level arrangement for daycare and meals on wheels services in Allenwood and the surrounding area. As a private, voluntary organisation, decisions about the closure of the service and the employment of staff rest with St. Vincent de Paul. In December 2024, St. Vincent de Paul issued a temporary notice of closure to the people who use this service and notified the HSE older persons services accordingly. The HSE reported that there were 34 active service users at the time when the closure was notified. HSE older persons services contacted all the people affected by this closure, offering them an alternative daycare place from 28 January.

On 4 March 2025, the HSE received formal written notice from St. Vincent de Paul that the Allenwood daycare service would remain closed permanently and would cease provision of meals on wheels from 28 March 2025. St. Vincent de Paul has advised the HSE that it has notified all services users of these closures. The HSE sourced alternative daycare places for service users of the Allenwood daycare service in the St. Conleth’s daycare centre in Kildare town. The HSE is providing transport for the service users four days per week, from Monday to Thursday. Some 18 clients have agreed to be referred to the St. Conleth’s daycare centre and 13 clients have confirmed start dates. As the Deputy has mentioned, five have declined attending this alternative daycare for the moment.

Additionally, a new meals on wheels provider has been sourced and will commence this service on 1 April 2025. All meals on wheels service users have been contacted by the HSE to advise them of this. The HSE is seeking an alternative daycare provider for the Allenwood daycare service and, in the longer term, it is planned that the day service will move to Kilmeague health care centre. Refurbishment works are under way currently and are expected to be completed by June 2025. In the meantime, it is essential that all of the people who relied on this service continue to be provided with reasonable alternatives.

I totally appreciate the concern the Deputy has highlighted here, the concerns that have been expressed on local radio. There is a few months of a gap between now and June, when they hope the new centre in Kilmeague will be open. I will endeavour to bring that message clearly back to the Department to ensure that the opening of the new centre at Kilmeague happens as soon as possible, and that everybody is accommodated in the best way possible.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I appreciate the Minister of State's reply. He mentioned that there are a couple of months. Unfortunately, as we all know, a couple of months is a long time for older people. It is an especially long time when someone is asking their caregiver in the morning if they can go back to where they know best, and the caregiver cannot say they can. A person's whole system could be upset by that fact. On the reply the Minister of State has given me, public representatives in County Kildare have received that over the last number of weeks and indeed up to today. What we cannot understand is this: We have been informed that a certain new service provider has actually visited the centre in Ballyteague and is willing to start in the next couple of days. It is willing to open the centre in Ballyteague GFC as Allenwood daycare centre once again. That is the question we are all asking. For those couple of months, why cannot we allow that provider to reopen the doors in Ballyteague GFC and allow those people to go back and have that cup of tea and meet their friends? That is what they want and what they most need. A couple of months can be such a long time for all those people.

The other ask that has been made by a number of public representatives is that the Minister responsible would go out to Ballyteague GFC and meet the people on the ground. I am asking again tonight that the Minister of State might bring that request back to the relevant Minister. Meeting the people on the ground, talking to them and hearing their stories would allow the Minister to feel the impact this has had. Three months in the life of an older person is a lifetime and can be so life-changing.

I have two requests for the Minister of State today. First, that he brings the request for an on-site meeting back to the Minister as quickly as possible and, second, that he asks the Minister for Health and the HSE why we cannot reopen the centre in Ballyteague given that a service provider has been on-site and has informed local people and, I believe, the HSE, that it can run the site and run the service within a couple of weeks to cover the three months while we are waiting for the new centre to open in Kilmeague.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I presume when the Deputy says a service provider has visited the site, it is the site of the old centre which St. Vincent de Paul has given notice it is closing. I appreciate that and will get clarification on whether it is something that can happen. I will certainly ask the question. The Deputy also asked whether the Minister might be able to visit the community there. Certainly I can see how that would be a helpful exercise. I will ensure that the Minister gets that request and can reply. Right across Ireland, communities have unfortunately experienced this issue where a daycare centre is closed for whatever reason. It is mainly in situations where they are not run directly by the HSE but perhaps by private or voluntary organisations. It causes hurt, devastation and a lot of uncertainty for families and the residents in question. I take the Deputy's point about three months being a long time for someone who is older. Loneliness is a big issue. The Deputy has made three simple requests and I will endeavour to get answers on them.