I welcome this opportunity to make statements on dementia and the programme for Government commitment on this issue. On behalf of the Social Democrats, I also welcome Cian and Jordan Adams and all those in the Gallery today, who care so much about this issue. Cian and Jordan inspired the whole country with their marathon running. It was a huge achievement. In particular what has stayed with me from the media coverage of it was the question of the licence to live for people with early onset dementia or associated conditions. I congratulate them on all they have done to raise awareness. Dementia is a terrible disease. It is devastating not just for the person at the centre of it but for everyone in their life, as anyone who has been put in that unenviable position will know. There is a real grief in the process and the slow loss of a person. It is not quite as acute in grief as death, but there is a great sadness in watching the person you know slowly slip away. I am struck by how many Deputies around this Chamber have stories about people who have suffered from this disease. A family member of mine passed away recently. Her name was Maura. She was a wonderful woman from Carlow. In her prime, she had great wit and humour and could outtalk the best of them. She loved cinema and music, and opera in particular. She lived in New York city for most of her life and returned a few years ago to Ireland to, in her words, chun bás a fháil in Éirinn, or to die in Ireland. By the time she returned, her memory had begun to fade. She would often get confused and not be fully of clear mind but her love of talking did not leave her, which led to some interesting conversations. When I was elected, she repeatedly recounted to me meeting Éamon de Valera as a child at a funeral. I was lucky enough not to live too far from her and to see her from time to time. I found her one day outside the local SuperValu, not quite sure how she had got there. She was confused and frightened. At first she was not entirely sure who I was, even though she had known me all my life. She very often got me confused with my father. I asked her if she needed me to stay with her. She was a woman I had never seen ask for anything in her life, but she said, "Yes, please", with a meek fear I had not seen in her before. The memory of a strong, smart and trail-blazing woman's vulnerability in that moment will never leave me. She passed away in April at the age of 84. Sadly, I was here for a vote on emergency fuel excise reductions when her funeral was held, but I lit a candle in her memory in her local church, which she went to every day, the Church of the Three Patrons in Rathgar. As I am not a particularly religious person, and we had more than one argument about politics over the years, I like to think she would have got a lot of satisfaction from that. This morning, I met an 81-year-old constituent with early signs of dementia. She is in danger of losing her home to a predatory lender, or what is often called a vulture fund. Her vulnerability has been exploited for greed, including while she was in hospital. I have been doing all I can to support her and the issue is with the courts, but the wider point still stands. Dementia puts people in an incredibly vulnerable position and can leave them open to exploitation by the unscrupulous. The Alzheimer Society of Ireland estimates there are approximately 70,000 people with dementia in Ireland today. Not all of them are elderly; some are in the prime of their lives but have been struck by a disease through no fault of their own. We know our population is rapidly ageing and we will have far more people with dementia in the future, not fewer. As our population ages, cognitive decline is going to become more and more prevalent an issue for us to deal with. I strongly welcome the Government's work on extending day care and mass expansion. The Buncrana service, in particular, has been critical for local people, as I have heard from friends. We must put in place increased proper supports for people with dementia and associated diseases so they can have the care and dignified life they deserve - the care, the housing supports, the therapies, the communities. We know early intervention matters. Up to 49% of the causes of dementia are preventable or manageable, as the Minister of State outlined. Proper supports can decelerate the onset of the disease. It is a terrible one, but it does not have to define anyone. We can still remember the people they once were and help them hold on to the dignity they deserve for as long as they can. I urge the Government to do all it can in the forthcoming budget to support all people with dementia and to chart a future for our people where everyone is cared for regardless of their condition.

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