Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

"You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life." These are the important words of Dame Cicely Saunders, who founded the hospice movement, which has given great dignity, respect and comfort to many at the end of their lives as well as to the family members around them.

In 2001, the national advisory committee on palliative care stressed the importance of every region having a hospice. Sadly, there is still one region without a hospice, that being, the midlands, which consists of counties Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath. In 2013, a joint study conducted by the HSE midlands region and the national hospice movement recommended that this badly needed hospice be placed on the campus of the Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore. Since then, a great deal of fundraising has been done by local committees. In 2019, the HSE Dublin mid-Leinster region offered a site to the hospital in Tullamore. Sadly, nothing has happened to date. Will the Deputy Leader ask the Minister for Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for older people to attend the House to debate this matter? It is an incredibly important issue for people in those four counties.