Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson for her commitment to this particular topic. It is very evident that she cares about it. I also acknowledge the Minister of State's dedication and commitment. What she said she would do before she was Minister of State and what she has done match each other perfectly. Her determination to do even better says an awful lot about her. I thank her.

At the risk of being accused of what Senator Mullen said earlier about being narcissistic and talking about myself, I really believe that all politics is personal. For me, one of the 64,000 people who are living with dementia at the moment happens to be my 86-year-old daddy. Therefore, it is very personal. I do not think I could ever speak as eloquently as Senator Mullen did because we are angry and sad. We are going through a tough time, but actually he is going through the tough time. We just have lost him even though he is still here. It is a horrible disease.

When I read that it could be prevented and that we are not doing enough, we kind of feel robbed that we did not know. Senator Hoey said earlier that she is so young and does not think about it. I am not young and I still did not think about it. We are very lucky that daddy is almost 87 and we have had him for 80 years, but we do not have him anymore other than the physical person whom we love to bits. It is horrible and I would not wish it on anybody. To hear it said that in a number of years we are going to have twice the number of people living with dementia is really disheartening.

One thing I will acknowledge is that all the carers who look after people are absolute saints. My mother is a saint. She has the patience of St. Jude. I really do not know how she does it. She has also lost her husband and she has now become his carer. It is hard. The people who support us, such as our public health nurse, community team, the psychiatric team that come from Drogheda because we live in County Meath and the staff in the Holly Day ward in Blanchardstown are absolutely wonderful people. We have a day care centre in Navan for which he is on a waiting list. That is only because it was affected so badly by Covid-19 that people are still in their pods. It had a massive impact that he was not able to go outside the door other than to walk around the back garden. When one does not get to meet the people one used to meet while out walking then, obviously, one deteriorates even further. I want to say a special thanks to the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and ask the Minister of State to keep up the great work. She is doing really great work.