Ray Butler (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a shortage of dementia beds in County Meath, relating to issues in St. Joseph's public nursing home in Trim. In 2012 and 2013, HIQA published a report showing that St. Joseph's was not up to HIQA standards. Senator James Reilly when he was Minister for Health came on board and allocated €1.2 million to St. Joseph's which ended up being a new 50-patient nursing home and passed all the HIQA standards. In 2014 and 2015, a further €200,000 to €300,000 was invested into St. Joseph's to fix the old roof. In 2015 and 2016, when planning a new future, a shortage of dementia beds in County Meath was identified and €2.5 million was promised for investment in St. Joseph's.

Since then, nothing has happened. We have very few dementia beds in County Meath. It is not right that we have a greenfield site state-of-the-art St. Joseph's nursing home that is ready to go. We badly need this unit in County Meath. Why is the HSE delaying this project? The money has been allocated and is in the clouds somewhere. I want it to come down from the clouds. We need to invest it in St. Joseph's and get these dementia beds operational. I would like the Minister to come to the House to explain why the money has not been allocated to County Meath, which really needs these dementia beds.