Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the major job announcements for the Cork area in the past three to four days. Yesterday, we heard that Tyco would employ 500 additional people. A project involving the Tyndall Institute in Cork is taking on additional people in its research facility. BioMarin is also taking on additional people. I hope that numbers there will grow from 40 to more than 200 in the next 12 months. That is a welcome development and long may it continue as regards new jobs being announced.

I wish to raise the issue of dementia. A very detailed report was published today involving research in 33 hospitals across the country. Some interesting figures emerge. The issue is worthy of debate in terms of future planning in the area. A conference on the matter will be held in Cork on Friday. The figures on the lack of training for staff dealing with patients in this area are frightening. It appears that we are not approaching the issue in a structured manner. We should examine that. An interesting figure indicates that 18% of all acute beds in hospitals are occupied by patients with dementia. The average stay in hospital before a person is discharged home is 22 days, whereas the average stay for a person who is discharged to a nursing home is 59 days. That is something we must examine. The matter is worthy of debate because the number of dementia diagnoses is growing and we must tackle the issue and plan for it.