Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for attending. My Commencement matter seeks clarity from the Department of Health on its commitment to capital funding for a permanent national rehabilitative day centre for people who have a severe acquired brain injury, and specifically to making that funding available to Teach an Saol, the most amazing service and facility, which is in operation in Santry, north Dublin.

Teach an Saol started providing day services to people with a severe acquired brain injury in 2020. It was born out of love and necessity, the love of one family for their son and brother and the necessity for him to be able to lead a life worth living following a severe acquired brain injury. Pádraig was a young man who was living his life to the full and, out of nowhere and through no act of his own, his life was stopped for a moment. Through the intervention of his parents and family, how, despite having a severe acquired brain injury, he is living a full life. The Schaler family and Teach an Saol believe a life saved is a life worth living. They are passionate about ensuring that every life saved following a severe acquired brain injury through the amazing advances that have been made with neuroscience and neurotechnology will be worth living.

Teach an Saol enables people with a severe acquired brain injury to live a fuller life. It provides them and their families with support in the form of therapies, including physical, occupational, cognitive and psychological. It is a day centre where people with severe acquired brain injuries and their families can go and receive specialised, appropriate therapies that help them regain the power to lead a life worth living. That is not a small thing but it is something we take for granted every day. We are so privileged and so lucky. The work Teach an Saol has done is inspirational and pioneering. It has not been done anywhere else. Since 2020, 28 individuals and their families have benefited from these transformational services and supports. It is truly inspirational and I would advise anybody to visit the centre. I am humbled to be able to speak on the organisation's behalf.

I thank the Department and Minister for Health and the HSE for the support they have given to Teach an Saol. They have provided the funding, initially for a pilot, which has been extended. The pilot was evaluated by the HSE and its findings are overwhelmingly positive. They call for a permanent commitment to this service not just in Santry but for it to be rolled out nationally. These are not just the views of the HSE. Many expert views from throughout the world have examined and evaluated the services being provided and have all concluded these services are groundbreaking and need to be supported. My ask is that the Department would commit capital funding for a permanent home for Teach an Saol in Dublin.