Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Since my appointment as Minister for Mental Health and Older People in 2020, I have made dementia a priority. Through successive budgets, I have worked to prioritise Government funding for the development of dementia diagnostic and post-diagnostic services, in line with the recently-published Dementia Model of Care.

Through Budget 2024, I have continued to prioritise dementia by providing an additional €500,000 to increase the provision of in-home dementia day care, for people who cannot, or do not wish to, attend centre-based day care. This was first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and is universally viewed as beneficial, improving both the quality of life of clients and providing a break for family carers.

Alongside this, I allocated €300,000 in funding to the Alzheimer Society of Ireland to provide weekend activity clubs for people with young onset dementia. This new service will have the benefit of also providing respite to the family carer. Up to 120 people with dementia and their families are expected to benefit from this weekend service.

Furthermore, in Budget 2024 I announced that a minimum of 18% of all new home support hours are now ringfenced for people with dementia.

Going forward there will be a strong focus on dementia-specific services, which have developed in recent years, like the Memory Technology Resource Rooms and National Dementia Adviser Service which provide invaluable information and supports to people with dementia and their family carers to help them adapt to a dementia diagnosis and continue to live as well as possible.