I am delighted to speak today. I welcome Jordan and Cian. I met them in Carlow a few weeks ago when they came to Barrow Brew and had a cup of coffee with me. It is important. When I met the two of them, I was so impressed because they were so passionate about the awareness of dementia. They spoke about their mammy. As everyone has said today, we are all here united in the fact that we need to make sure that we are working, highlighting and funding dementia. We talk about our family carers or family members. I am involved with the community supports. We have community cafés. We have our day centres and our partnerships with the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland. These also play a huge role for families as well. I attend meetings regularly in my own area in Bethany House, which plays a huge role. I compliment it on its good work. I also attended a public meeting two weeks ago in Leighlinbridge. They did a report on dementia, the age groups and a pathway forward. It is positive that this is happening now. I think this will happen all over the country. I feel Jordan and Cian have played a huge role in that. Everywhere I went, the two were mentioned, which was a good tribute to them for their commitment and dedication to raising awareness of this and how we can move forward on this. We must also plan for our ageing population. It worries me about those with early onset dementia. We have to be more focused on the supports for that age group because early onset can be absolutely rapid and time is of the essence. I came into the Chamber today to say I am thrilled and honoured that I met Jordan and Cian. They should keep up the good work. This is something that is important and that families will benefit from. I know it from working with the two Ministers of State. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, over the years, was passionate and worked hard on the funding. I know the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, will do the same. It is all about getting our services together with the pathway. Good work is being done. Well done to everyone.

Sentiment score: 0.31