Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To give a rough outline, Tír na nÓg was set up in 2005. It is a respite service for the children of Carlow and was opened for 11 years. It first opened with ten children and then it had 42 children attending it. It was a weekend service with a waiting list of 30 or so. It was closed by the HSE in December 2015 and because of the need for the service, a weekend one was put in place but with no overnights, just some half days. We are now asking the Minister of State to have this respite centre opened. A new site was donated, again by a businessman. It will only cost €350,000 to build this respite centre. Again, we were given the go-ahead from the HSE to get plans drawn up.

The Holy Angels is in dire need of a new school and Tír na nÓg respite centre has closed, with only €350,000 needed to build a new respite centre. Approximately 60 children are looking to attend it, so this is not good enough. I ask the Minister of State to consider this and come back to me.