Brian Stanley
Laois · Independent · Ireland
“We are going through an epidemic of domestic abuse and violence. In 2025, the Garda had over 67,000 calls in relation to domestic abuse. Seven women were murdered last year, and in many of those cases, it was by a family member, a partner or somebody known closely to the victim.”
“Those fundamentals cannot be ignored. Are supporters of partition really saying that we can continue on this small island with 14 different departments in each jurisdiction working back to back, often in competition with each other? Are they saying that having Twenty-six Counties in the EU and Six Counties out of it makes economic sense?”
“Those who still argue for partition ignore the fact that in a reunified 32-county state, the pension liabilities of those workers in the Six Counties who accrued pension entitlements by paying into the British national insurance system and the British exchequer or employment pensions would receive that portion of their pension liability.”
“Unfortunately, I do not get any sense of urgency from the Minister of State that we are going to have laws introduced in September or October, and that is the crucial issue. Yes, we have rules now, and she listed them out in relation to the signs. However, they are being ignored.”
“The cost is €2.6 billion for the diplomatic mission alone. There is also MI6 and the massive military machine and capacity, including the army, the navy and the Royal Air Force. I saw a figure of €60.2 billion for 2025 and 2026. That amount is due to rise sharply to meet its increased military capabilities.”
“The issue I am raising with the Minister of State is the increase in the number of injuries, including those involving young children, relating to e-scooters and e-bikes. Ten have been killed.”
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“We know that the population overall of the county has increased and certainly the population of the elderly in the county has increased. Rural isolation is a problem in Laois and we have big rural areas across the Slieve Bloom Mountains and Slievemargy to the east and west and to the south of the county down to Ballaghmore and places like that, back across to Erril. Loneliness and isolation are damaging both mental health and physical health. I have dealt with a number of cases where there is a shortage of home care hours. People are what is called waitlisted and they will get word that they are entitled to hours and the HSE is granting hours but it is not in a position to provide them. I have to say this to the Minister of State because his party has been in power for 15 years.”
“The debate around this is very important. I generally welcome the Bill, which is important. Safeguards for users and providers are important. That it covers the care of both the elderly and those with disabilities is the crux of this. However, there are issues around provision and standards that we need to keep an eye on as well as the availability of home help hours and home care hours. We have censuses and we have them for a reason. They allow the State to plan for what is coming down the tracks. Everyone knows that we have an increasing age profile in our population. By 2030, we will have over a million people over the age of 66. County Laois is estimated to have between 13,000 and 14,000 people over that age. According to the 2022 census, 11,978 people were over that age. That is four years ago.”
“There is no problem with that. People do not mind if their house in Laois looks the same as a house in Cork. The Department insisting on councils starting with a blank canvas for every scheme is not the way to go because it is costly, with architects' fees, etc., and it slows the production of houses. We need to mass-produce affordable to buy and cost-rental housing. That is the message I am giving the Minister today. It will save money and time and it will get people housed. We need to house those people who are squeezed in that middle cohort.”
“I thank the Minister for his reply. He quoted different sets of figures from the CSO. I am quoting figures from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Yes, it has to be a priority, but the Government needs to scale up the delivery of cost rental and affordable to buy for that wedge of people, workers and families, who are caught just above the threshold for social housing but below the level of income that would make getting a mortgage achievable . One of the things I would say to the Minister, and I have said it to successive Ministers for housing, is that we need to reduce the bureaucracy around the construction of social, affordable and cost-rental housing. We need to work to standard plans. This is how the big developers are doing it. They are doing it and they are selling the houses like hot buns.”
“The Government needs to scale up affordable and cost-rental housing. Will the Government now take action to head off the inevitable sharp rent hikes on 1 March and thereafter for workers and families who will not be able to afford them? Will the Government and the housing Minister increase the number of cost-rental and affordable to purchase homes being constructed in County Laois and other counties? Can the Minister's Department and the Department of local government review the income thresholds for rented council housing to allow more low-income households to get on that ladder?”
“Renters in some areas are going to face a 10%, 20% and 30% hike on 1 March and after 1 March. Laois will be one of those areas. Rents on new tenancies can be then set at the highest rate of the market - I just read out one case to the Minister - and thereafter 2% every year on top of that. There is a particular cohort of low- and middle-income workers, workers who are generally earning between €35,000 and €65,000. They cannot keep up with the rent hikes and cannot get on a local authority housing waiting list because they are over the income threshold, but they do not have sufficient income or savings to get a mortgage. Delivery of cost-rental and affordable purchase homes are key to sorting this out. We need to be able to get them into a situation where they can either buy an affordable home or rent one.”
“That is more than €500 a week. Workers cannot afford that. It is way over what people can budget for. House prices are up 60% on average compared with 2020. Notices to quit are being issued every day. I do not know if the Minister is getting that in his office, but I am certainly getting it. There has been a sharp rise in the number of notices to quit since Christmas. Some rental housing is not yet registered with the RTB and there is no tenancy agreement in place. A notice to quit can just be verbal. I saw one last week that was sent to a girl by text. Before the Minister tells me this is illegal, I know it is. The tenants know it is illegal, but tenants cannot complain because they are in such a vulnerable position and are trying to get permission to stay there longer.”
“The issue I am raising with the Minister is house prices and the availability of housing. In County Laois, house prices are up, rents are up, homelessness is up and notices to quit are up. Despite the best efforts of the council, which has a good active housing programme, the homeless figures increased by 60% when you compare December's figures with those last year. The Government's social housing target for 2025 was 10,000 - a low enough, modest target. In the first nine months of the year, just 3,143 were constructed - 31%. Cost rental and affordable to buy targets were not met, with just 925 cost rental and 563 affordable purchase delivered. Rents in Laois on new tenancies are up by 12.1% in one year according to Daft surveys. A small house in Kilminchy, a suburb of Portlaoise, is advertised for €2,100 per month.”
“We do not want to see anybody put in danger. As I said, this has become a problem in Laois. I know it is starting to become a problem elsewhere because other Deputies have started raising it as well. The strict medical test is the issue. I ask the Minister and the Ministers of State to bear this in mind and to use their influence with Bus Éireann because the Department pays money to it every year. People's health is better now. They live longer now. Their health is better beyond 70. Seventy is the new 50.”
“The school bus scheme is working fairly well, and it is good that is happening. I think problems were ironed out a bit quicker this year, and that is welcome. I acknowledge that. However, we have to have the drivers to fill the positions, and it is the Government's ambition, as I understand it, to expand the scheme, maybe to bring in people who are closer to the school and to reduce the distance from the school to qualify for it. If the Government is going to expand the scheme, that, along with an expanding population, will require more drivers. It is really important that we try to fix this because in September there were problems again trying to fill positions. Bus operators were frantically going around trying to get people to take on positions. We could extend the age by three, four or five years beyond 70 with a strict medical test.”
“I am not asking for them to keep going until 100 or 90 years of age; I am simply proposing that they go to 75 on the condition that they pass a strict medical test. This is the key. I do not want to endanger anybody. I can understand Bus Éireann and other bus operators being concerned, but there are real issues starting to arise here. I refer to somebody driving a minibus two or three hours a day five or ten miles to a local school. They can drive 50-, 60- and 70-seater coaches, which they are doing and I know people who are doing it, yet they cannot drive their local school bus. That is a ridiculous situation. The Minister of State is right that we need to address the safety issue, but we need to solve this issue as well.”
“I thank the Minister of State for that. The issue is straightforward: bus drivers on the school transport scheme cannot drive beyond their 60th birthday. They cannot drive a minibus for two or three hours a day with ten or 15 pupils on it, yet they can drive a 50- or 60-seater coach hundreds of miles, and are doing so. School bus operators are losing drivers every year, and in Laois this is a real problem. They are finding it very difficult to replace them because the work is part-time and really suits retired people. I emphasise this to the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. The cohort driving the school buses is largely retired people. People generally retire at 60 or 65 and get five or ten years' driving.”
“I ask for the Minister to resolve the issue of school bus drivers, when they reach their 70th birthday, having to bow out and retire. This has to be addressed because it is causing problems. I have been raising this issue since January of last year. Right throughout the year, I have been at it. I hope there is some progress being made.”
“When will the Government stop dancing around this and bring the occupied territories Bill through the Oireachtas? The relevant Minister, Deputy McEntee, speaking yesterday in Egypt, said she is not going to rush into something. For God’s sake, we are still waiting for the legislation after eight years. This needs to be prioritised. People are being murdered in Palestine by terrorists. We need to help them.”
“There is a clear commitment in the programme for Government regarding the occupied territories Bill. The Bill was published eight years ago. The International Court of Justice said the Government had an obligation to ban all trade in goods from occupied territories. The Taoiseach admits that in the programme for Government, which I read this morning. There are 160 legal settlements in the West Bank, 69 of which came into force since 2022. In recent weeks, the Israeli Government announced 19 new ones. Palestinian homes, farms and businesses have been bulldozed and destroyed. Some 700,000 Israelis live on illegal settlements, on stolen Palestinian land. Israeli settlers and Israel Defense Forces terrorists have murdered over 700 people in the West Bank in the past two years.”
“Former Fianna Fáil Minister Michael McGrath, now a Commissioner, welcomed the EU Council vote on Mercosur. The Government needs to get its act together and ensure that all Government MEPs vote against the Mercosur deal when it comes to the European Parliament. It should lobby MEPs of all political persuasions to form a blocking majority at EU level. In the event of the deal being passed at the European Parliament, the Government needs to act to prevent substandard beef and poultry from entering the Irish market.”
“What is the justification for this? The revelations recently that Brazilian beef with banned hormones entered the Irish food chain are now being investigated by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. That should set off alarm bells. What justification is there for further destruction of the rainforest and the carbon footprint required to haul food halfway across the world to get it here when we are already producing loads of it? What is not clear is why it took the Government so long to express its opposition to the Mercosur deal. This deal has been in the making for six or seven years. Up to 24 hours prior to the vote, Micheál Martin's words were those of a man ready to vote for it. There is confusion in Government about this because Barry Andrews MEP and Regina Doherty, a Fine Gael MEP, have said they are going to vote for the deal.”
“When we joined the EU Single Market back in 1972, there was supposed to be free trade, but also fair trade, between the states of Europe, and all treaties since underlined that. The Single Market was sold as a level playing pitch with standards harmonised. However, with substandard products coming in from outside, it is not harmonised. The Mercosur deal completely undermines it. Farmers are having to compete with food produced to lower standards from other countries. The importation of 99,000 tonnes of beef and 180,000 tonnes of chicken, produced at lower environmental and animal health standards, will cause market distortion. We all know what that means. Irish farmers produce meat under strict rules of tag and trace and must have prescriptions for what they give to cattle. Here we have double standards.”
“I ask her to sort this out, cover the cost of the blister packs and keep our patients, elderly and vulnerable people, safe.”
“The State always paid for the phased dispensing and that was used as a safer way for different people. Some pharmacies were using it to cover the costs, and that is fair enough. There are two ways to resolve this. One is to allow the pharmacies to cover the costs under the existing scheme, what is called a phased dispensing scheme. The other is to pay the pharmacies a modest fee to dispense this using the monitored dosage system and the blister packs. There has been a giveaway budget for the big hotels, McDonald's and Costa. They got nearly €1 billion. The tiny amount of money that would fix this was not thought of. This needs to be fixed. We are nearly on the eve of Christmas. I ask the Minister to do one good thing for Christmas.”
“They say they do not have to do it, according to their contracts. However, the Fine Gael Government, which the Minister was not part of at the time, negotiated a new contract with the GPs and this was not addressed in it, despite the fact it was pointed out on the floor of the Dáil to Leo Varadkar, James Reilly and others. I remember standing here in this same spot pointing it out to them, as did others at the time. I had pensioners coming to me about it at the time. That needs to be sorted out. There is all of that. There is the low income threshold, increasing medical card costs, the number of substances not covered and then GPs charging medical card patients for blood tests. When the Government negotiated the agreement with the pharmacies this year, this was not included.”
“For a couple under 66, the income threshold is €201. A couple over 66 - between that and 70 - it is €298. I am imploring the Minister and the Minister of State here to address this. What has also increased in the past 14 or 15 years is the number of items and medications no longer covered by the medical card scheme. Every TD will have heard this over the past 14 or 15 years. People come to us saying that such and such a thing they used to get on a medical card is no longer there as it was withdrawn. A third thing that has come into play in the past 14 years is GPs charging for blood tests. I raised this with James Reilly, Leo Varadkar and every Minister for Health since. That used to be free for people with medical cards but what happened was that the GPs started charging for it.”
“This is coming on top of increasing food and energy costs. There was another announcement of an energy increase today. These are all increasing. Wait until the bills start coming in January. We have not even hit Christmas yet. This comes on top of the high cost of living. The increases are happening right across the board and it will disproportionately hit the poor the hardest. What must also be factored into this is the low income thresholds for medical cards. If you are under 66, the income threshold for a single person is €184. The last time I remember that being increased was back at the start of the noughties, around 2002 or 2003. I am open to correction but it was well over 20 years ago. If you are over 66, it is €201. When you hit that, you are gone. You cannot get a full medical card.”
“The blister packs are simple and it is a safe way of ensuring people are taking the correct dosage at the right time at the correct time of the day and everything else. Older people, including people with a range of medical conditions, rely on them - as I said, those who have complex medical needs. Chemists can charge between €30 and €50 for them but this is on top of other medical costs. The decision by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and the Minister, to withdraw this now is putting an extra burden on these low-income households and individuals and it is coming at the worst time of the year. The majority of those who are typically dependent on the packs, which as the Minister said on Sunday - and fair enough - are being funded through what is called a phased dispensing reimbursement scheme, are on low incomes.”
“The withdrawal of this is dangerous and I do not say that lightly. For people with complex medical needs and multiple conditions, this very basic service was provided free of charge. I heard the Minister's interview on Sunday and I know she explained how it is being funded. I get that but we are dealing with people who have multiple medical needs and who are taking multiple medications. I have seen the medications on the kitchen table in households. They are taking two of this a day, four of that and one of those. They could have seven or eight different types of medication. It is very hard for them to keep track of this and this is a simple way of doing it. The majority of them are pensioners, disabled people, or people on very low incomes. We are talking about the most vulnerable.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. It is a very important issue. I am glad the Minister for Health, as the senior Minister, is here to address this. We are having this conversation in the context of us being just days away from Christmas. This is one of the last sittings of the Dáil. Here we are, discussing a measure and what is up for consideration is a very small amount of money. On the other hand, it is about saving people's lives and looking after people's health. We are also having the debate in the context of supposedly getting near the final furlong in the implementation of Sláintecare, a public health system, and we are nowhere near that, unfortunately. The importance of blister packs and the importance of having monitored dosage systems cannot be overstated. The health and safety of patients is paramount.”
“Therefore, the Government needs to stop breaking the law. It and the HSE have not set targets. I cannot figure out why the Government has not done so. If it has no targets, it will not make progress. The problems have been clear for decades. We do not have the staff in the right place. We need a clear workforce plan to train and retain staff. The fact that the State has to go to the private sector and pay €3,500-plus for each assessment of need shows a complete failure. We need to recruit the staff and retain them. We need to get at it now. What I suggest has been referred to here for years; it needs to be done.”
“According to replies I am getting to parliamentary questions, the picture is not getting any better. The CDNTs in Laois are threadbare. Network 11 has eight vacant posts and network 12 has 11, and this is in a relatively small county. There is a total of 19 vacancies in the CDNT teams. There are no behavioural therapists or therapy assistants. Only 50% of the physiotherapy posts are filled, and the same applies to social worker posts. There has been no occupational therapist for child services up to recently. This is what the HSE told me in a letter. It also stated there is no approval to recruit. All of these things are causing problems for children and their families. Children are regressing because of the lack of intervention and services. This is leading to problems now but it is going to lead to bigger problems in later life.”
“The fact that the Government is still breaking the law years after this matter was highlighted is absolutely scandalous. Referrals are supposed to be made in three months and assessments completed within six. The situation is getting worse, with the number waiting now over 18,000, as has been outlined here. In Laois–Offaly, the figures are ballooning. What is happening is an absolute scandal. The average waiting time for a referral is 21 months-plus. It can be plus another six, eight or 12 months, and some must wait for over two years. It has got worse. Figures I have got in answer to parliamentary questions show the situation got worse even between October and November of this year. After waiting for a referral and the completion of an assessment, a child finds there are few or no services.”
“Will the Government and the Minister for education now move this on? Deputy Chambers, as Minister for public expenditure, has a key role in this because we cannot have schools waiting for up to 20 years to get new buildings in place. It is important for the education of the children. It is important for the staff who work there as well.”
“The programme for Government states on page 68 that the Government will support the school building unit in the timely delivery of school building projects. Coláiste Íosagáin in Portarlington has been waiting for a decade and a half. Portarlington is the second-biggest town in County Laois and the school is full to capacity. It has a catchment area taking in Killenard, Lea, Emo, Ballybrittas and Courtwood and, in Offaly, Walshisland and Bracknagh. There is huge pressure on student places and a large part of the school is in prefabricated buildings. There is a new school plan for 1,300 pupils but this has been going on for a decade and a half. I am asking Deputy Chambers, as Minister for public expenditure, to move this on. They have been waiting for approval to go to tender.”
“The Tánaiste, therefore, became popular with 69-year-old bus drivers in Laois. The Tánaiste said at that time that this is quite a farcical and bizarre situation. I have been back and forth with the Minister since and I have raised it a number of times in the Chamber. This is something that we can do, and there is a problem already with drivers. There is a shortage of school bus drivers because it is a part-time position and it suits retired people. I am asking the Tánaiste to fix this. This needs be caught and fixed. I hope we can do it.”
“I am raising the issue of bus drivers over the age of 70 for the school bus scheme with the Tánaiste. When I raised it with him in the first week of February, I pointed out that as it is a part-time job, most of the drivers are retired from their full-time careers and are between 60 and 70 years of age. People over the age of 70 can drive 50- and 60-seater private coaches for long distances, but they cannot drive a 12- or 14-seater minibus to the local school. The Government is committed to expanding the school transport scheme. I am proposing that the age limit be extended to 75 on the condition that the drivers pass a strict test. The local media picked up on this issue the last time I raised it with the Tánaiste. One paper said, "Tánaiste Simon Harris backs Laois TD's call for over 70's bus drivers".”
“I thank the Minister for his reply. I acknowledge the support given to the Old Fort Quarter festival and other projects in County Laois through the LEADER fund and I accept that. The key thing is that sometimes the information on what is available and where it can be accessed is unclear. I know some bureaucracy is necessary and it is important that money be accounted for properly and that things be done the right way. However, we need to try to streamline this. There can be a multitude of places to go to for funding but sometimes there is a fog in that regard. It needs to be kept very simple and straightforward. Maybe there could be something from the Department to state what is available. The Minister mentioned a number of avenues. Information is key for local communities to find out where to go for this.”
“The route to securing funding needs to be simplified. I take on board the point about the LEADER programme but it tends to be set. There are a lot of calls on it. A separate stream of funding needs to be made available for this.”
“What the Minister said in the last couple of sentences, in relation to finalising plans for 2026, is timely. This is a great way of improving tourism and visitor numbers. As we all know, tourism figures are down this year and there are various reasons for that. Some of it is due to high prices being charged by some hotels and over-pricing, and the industry has to take that on board. The first homecoming festival was organised in Laois this year and it was a huge success. It took place on 4, 5 and 6 September. A lot of voluntary work and commitment go into these festivals and it is an area we need to target in terms of economic and tourism benefits. It also has community and family benefits, because people who had not seen each other for 50 years, in some cases, met again for the first time.”
“Will the Minister consider granting funding to homecoming festivals in various locations in the country to promote tourism and increase investment, particularly in rural areas? What is his opinion on this? What supports can be provided?”
“It could reduce the cost between 11% and 16% by cutting out the nonsense of councils having to go to a blank canvas every time and bringing in architects when they want to build a house. Why is this not being done? Why are we not doing mass production? Please row back on the proposal for rent changes in March. The 2% limit will be gone in March and it will be set at market rent. I can see where this is happening in my area already. Changes to tenancies happen more regularly than every six years. The average is two and a half to three years, according to statistics. We need to go back on this again. The Minister will cause more evictions and I plead with him to stop it. Let us mass produce houses. Let us up the target for social houses and row back on the rent proposals for March.”
“This is along with the sewerage plants and water plants that are also needed. Housing targets were missed last year and we were 1,129 short on social housing. Cost-rental housing targets were missed by a country mile. I fully support affordable house purchases and these targets were down by more than 60% and were completely missed. The housing plan has to be accompanied by increasing those targets. We also need standard house plans. I am back to this again. We need the same plans for all counties. We would need seven or eight different types of plans. The officials in the Department will say they use standard design but that is not a standard house plan. We need this if we want to mass produce something that is good quality, produce it quickly and reduce the price.”
“We need a housing plan that is going to work. Rents are up sky high and will get higher in March. House prices are up sky high. Evictions are up sky high. There were 15,000 notices to quit and eviction notices in the first nine months of the year. We need a plan that will work. The Department has set out that County Laois has to increase its population by 35% between now and 2030. I see the Minister's plan to roll out infrastructure and I will welcome it if it is done but without the infrastructure in Laois, it will not happen. The northern orbital route in Portlaoise needs to be built to free up land for housing. The bypass in Mountmellick needs to be built. The southern orbital route in Graiguecullen, County Carlow needs to be built. These projects need to be fast tracked or the houses will not be built.”
“Her gas boiler has stopped working. She cannot get the €3,000 grant from the council to replace it. She cannot get it from the community welfare officer because he says it is the job of the council and she cannot get it from the SEAI because there is a 25-month wait. The rule from the Department says that it cannot be replaced with gas because it is fossil fuel.”
“There has been a sharp increase in prices but it should only be done in a targeted way. Do not give energy credits to millionaires as was done last year. That was okay. The Government did that before the election and I know why it did so, and members of the Government know as well. Do not do it this year. Do it in a targeted way for low- and middle-income households who are facing another long cold winter. I want the Minister of State to address the fact the housing aid for older people grant cannot be given to people to replace a gas boiler. I am not sure if it was the Department officials or one of the Ministers who decided this. I have a case of a woman who I will call Sheila. She is 67 years old and a cancer patient. She is living alone and is on non-contributory pension. She has a 20 year-old house.”
“Of course, they are going to do what they do; they are set up to make profit. They are going to get as much as they can out of it. Government is increasing carbon taxes not once but twice a year and these hikes are having a huge impact on householders, small businesses and motorists, adding to the cost of living by putting up fuel prices. Of course, if fuel prices go up, everything else goes up. It has turned out that the carbon tax is benefitting those who can afford to buy a new electric car and get the grant, or those who can do a major retrofit in their home. However, low income households, often rural dwellers, are not getting the benefits from the carbon tax that is being collected. I want the Minister of State to take that on board. We need energy credits, which was recommended by Department officials.”
“The cost of energy is putting huge pressure on households, with 300,000 households now in arrears with electricity bills. I was listening to Deputy Barry Ward complaining about the energy companies putting up the wholesale price - of course, they are doing it - and he wondered why electricity is getting so dear. Well, 25 years ago, it was 96% publicly owned. We had one of the cheapest electricity supplies in the European Union. Now, it is 25% publicly owned and 75% private. That is because of all the renewables owned by private companies, except the Bord na Móna ones which I have no problem with. We have the third to fourth most expensive electricity in Europe. That is the first thing Government TDs need to take on board, instead of coming in here and complaining about private companies.”
“They are not fit to hold down a tenancy in a house or to live in group supported accommodation but in a setting like that, they function. The HSE recognised that at the time so what has happened? The most recent reply I got to a parliamentary question was that no decision has been made regarding the future of Erkina House. We need to get straight answers as to what is happening. I ask the Government to use this resource and opportunity, make decisions and put a facility in place in the south of the county. Utilise the goodwill and staff who are there also.”
“I recognise this building needs an upgrade but if there are going to be four centres, surely one should be located in south of the county along with one up towards the north and the centre in the middle of the county, which is in Portlaoise. That is excellent; I welcome that centre. I visited it and it is wonderful what is happening in it. The Minister of State will know that people are being let out of mental health facilities and sent home who really need to be in care. Families contact me about people who are being sent out of the psychiatric unit, brought in for a couple of days and sent out again. Those people need to be in residential care. That is well recognised by medical professionals but there is nowhere to send them.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her reply. As of yesterday, my information is it was down to two residents. We have known for three years that the building will not meet standards. The HSE, the Government and the Department know it. In the meantime, HSE management was clear it needed four centres and the ideal size of those centres was to cater for between ten and 15 people because that provides the best model in terms of efficiency, use of resources and best practice for residents. It outlined in great detail why. Where is the fourth centre going to be? We have three in Laois-Offaly. The Department of Health owns this site. There is a building there.”
“In Laois, there is the Maryborough Centre, which was being refurbished at the time. It has been reopened now and is fantastic. There are up to 15 residents in that. That is good, but I pointed out at the time that Rathdowney is ideal because it is at the other end of the county. It provided care for the south of the county. It already owns the site but what we have had since is pussyfooting or deliberately sitting it out. I do not know which it is but no decision has been made. This is not acceptable. How long does it take for decisions to be made in this country? Ministers really need to catch officials and move things on. I ask the Minister of State what is the truth and what is happening. We need an upfront answer.”
“Refurbishing and extending it had a projected cost of €5.2 million. Obviously, there was a cost in producing that extensive report. A firm of architects was brought in to do it. The current situation is that the facility is down to just two residents. This is what I predicted would happen. Some of them have been moved. The HSE and the Department have sat it out. Some residents have moved to a nursing home and some of them have gone to their eternal and just reward. There were a number of meetings with the HSE and various options were discussed. I followed this the whole way along. We were told the preferred option for the HSE was that there would be four of these centres in Laois and Offaly, two in Laois and two in Offaly. There is already Silver Lodge in Tullamore and the one in Borris-in-Ossory. Those are the two in Offaly.”
“Another person who died very recently had produced wonderful artwork, which I have viewed over the years. There is a regular bus service from Rathdowney. An excuse used by the HSE and the Department of Health at the time was that there was no transport in and out. There is a very good bus service in and out of Rathdowney and that will improve further under the rural link scheme, which is a great scheme. I welcome that. One of the other great points in favour of the facility was the support and acceptance of the residents by the local community. The residents knew local people, and local people knew them and would chat to them. The residents were familiar with the local people and the surroundings. The HSE and the Department produced an order of merit report on the building, looking at options.”