Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Some of what he said is very welcome. It is great that €6.5 million has been allocated to CHOs across the State to get these day services up and running and that €925,000 was provided to the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. However, it still begs the question as to why a new facility that was opened in 2019 is not being reopened. We have all of this money being put into getting day centres back up and running - some 80% have reopened and 40 more are due to reopen - so why is the Castlebar facility not reopening? What is the problem? It cannot simply just be a case of not being able to find the right building. There are other locations. We still cannot get an answer to that question. How will we have a new facility if it is not fit for purpose to reopen as a day centre? Nobody can seem to answer that question.

I take on board what the Minister of State said about the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, actively exploring interim solutions. We were told that last year, and it still has not materialised. I know of one family in particular where it actually accelerated their decision to put their loved one into full-time nursing home care because they could not cope at home. That was after two long years of the pandemic when there were literally no services for people caring for loved ones with dementia. What is happening is forcing people into that. It is a Government priority and a Government policy to facilitate people staying in their own homes for as long as possible because we believe in that option for people, and to provide that dignity for them to stay at home. This was not an option for the family to which I refer. The situation is the same for many other families.

I am looking for more concrete timelines. What are the interim arrangements being explored? When can we expect an update as to what they are, what they will look like and when they will be available? What is the long-term prospect of reopening day services at the hospital? Somebody needs to ask the question, and I am asking it here today. When a new facility was built and reopened, why was it not fit for purpose to provide day services? It seems as though the ball was dropped when that facility was constructed and that design was done, that it could not cater for updating of guidelines. Surely, when we opened a facility in 2019, it should have been a long-term facility that can cater for at least the next 50 to 60 years. That seems to not have happened. I would appreciate if the Minister of State had any more detail at all about the interim arrangements being explored and when we could see those services back up and running.