Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have to say Regina, as opposed to Senator or Leader, because I have to reach out to you woman to woman and colleague to colleague, I wish you well on the journey that is ahead of you, your dad and your loving mum. Regina has often spoken about what a strong person her mum is and what an inspiration she is to her. I have no doubt of the toll this is taking on her mother or of the love with which she is carrying this out. I am with Regina and her family in spirit.

I will hand back to the Minister of State. On behalf of all the Senators here, as Acting Chairperson, I especially thank the Alzheimer Society of Ireland for all the work it does with so many throughout the country. I thank it for organising yesterday's briefing. There are very strong messages in what we heard today. One of my strong messages, about which I will be colloquial, is the need for a dedicated day care centre in Kildare. We have spoken about that before. We do not have such a centre. We have had a number of different ones up to the time of Covid and we desperately need one in the centre of Kildare.

The five steps the Alzheimer Society of Ireland has identified for all of us to reduce our risk of developing dementia and to improve our brain health are being physically active; taking care of our heart; eating a healthy diet; taking part in social activities and challenging our brain. I am not sure how the rest of the Members feature on all five but I am not great. I am approximately halfway there and I need to work on the others. That is a strong message. We very much appreciate the Minister of State's time to be here for the full debate. We know how precious her time is. Equally, we know how committed she is to her work on this.