Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am extremely concerned about the position of the St. Mary's of the Angels community facility in Beaufort, Killarney, County Kerry. I ask that it be exempted from the national time to move on policy, and that the HSE be requested to cancel the pilot scheme at the site. At present it has 77 residents, who are people with a mental and-or other disability. They cannot decide for themselves, and decisions would have to be made by their parents or families. This will have to be recognised more clearly than it is at present.

This special community should be reinstated immediately for funding. I intend to pursue this actively with the Minister. The community has existed for many years and some of the residents have been there for up to 40 years. To treat them as if they can move on, I will not say "willy-nilly" because it is not quite that bad, is not possible. We cannot do it in this day and age. There must be much more humanity. It would make much more sense for the authorities to reinvest not necessarily huge amounts, but whatever is required and, as required, to rejuvenate the site and make it proper. We cannot decongregate people who have been there for so long. It is their home and it is what they recognise. We will disorient them totally. A stop must be put to this. I am speaking to the Minister about it, but perhaps it is something that in a more general sense we can speak about. We cannot speak about just one site, but I am sure other sites are affected throughout the country. Perhaps in early course we can have the Minister in for a suitable debate on the matter.