Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to get angry. I had skin in the game because I saw my mother with dementia in the last years of her life. I have seen the real impact it has on families. The Minister says that, five years after the dementia strategy was launched, we are funding initiatives from dormant accounts funding but we need mainstream funding. It has to be planned and we cannot go, cap in hand, begging for funding every year. We need a planned, integrated approach in order to give dementia sufferers and their families the dignity of which the Minister spoke.

I am sorry the Minister is not here because we have had endless meetings with him on this. Dormant accounts funding does not allow us to plan a long-term service or to plan an integrated service for sufferers of dementia, their carers and their families. We - and I include myself in this - have failed people with dementia and their families. I will not stop raising this issue, inside and outside this House. Senator Kelleher and I will continue the battle and we will not let any Minister for Health, from any political party - including my own - allow what is happening to people with dementia, their carers and their families to continue. It is a national disgrace.