I am sure the Minister of State will be struck that while often in these Houses when we have debates there is disagreement, this is an issue about which there is cross-party agreement and even unity. It has had an impact on every family and every community. The Minister of State is personally deeply committed to working in this area. Having these kinds of debates or discussions shows there is a lot more that unites us around particular issues. The suggestions coming from all sides of the House are about how to come up with solutions. As Deputy Troy mentioned, I hope the Minister of State will meet the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. I think he will have the support of everyone in seeking to look at ways in which we can support those with dementia and invest in research to be able to better understand and tackle the condition. Like others, I welcome Jordan and Cian Adams who are here. I had the privilege of meeting them with Deputy Carrigy earlier. I thank them for all their work in raising awareness of frontotemporal dementia, FTD. They are the FTD Brothers. It was an incredible achievement to run 33 marathons in 33 days, not just for the money they raised for the Alzheimer society and their foundation, but for the awareness raising. People from my running club joined them. As someone who has a bit of experience of running, I know that running 33 marathons in 33 days is not easy. I think they made a mistake in picking Wicklow town to finish in, given the hills there. It is an incredible achievement and I commend them on being able to tell their story in such a way. Like colleagues, including Deputy Troy, I also praise the Minister of State's predecessor, Deputy Butler, who put this issue on the political agenda. I know the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, will continue with that. It is important that we have a cross-party group in the House. My colleagues, Deputy Devlin and Senator O'Loughlin, have done huge work on it. It is an issue on which we should co-operate, in as far as possible, to be able to better understand among ourselves the impact of dementia and what we need to do. As I and everyone have said, every family is impacted and in different ways. I recall my grandmother. I would have great chats with her and then a few minutes later I would have to repeat the same story. My aunt currently has dementia. Growing up, she hated when people used bad language and now she swears like a trooper. It is about understanding those changes. These are wonderful people and they deserve dignity and support. As colleagues have said, it is not just the diagnosis for the person. It is also about how to support the family, loved ones and those around the person. We also need to look in a greater way - I was conscious of this and Deputy Jen Cummins mentioned it - of how we talk to children and young people so they can understand the condition and how to engage. Specific measures in that regard are important. Providing the support of the dementia advisory service is critical because different people will have different needs. As Deputy Troy said, some need support at home and others may need to be placed in care. One of the most joyous days I remember from a number of years ago was the opening of the day care centre in Riverchapel by the ASI. It just involved chatting to people and their families. On that day, somebody told me it is a place where they are understood. We should invest in more of those kinds of supports around the country. The final thing I will mention is clinical research, which is critically important. As a society, we must continue to invest in research into dementia. We are about to embark on one of the biggest transformative projects ever undertaken in healthcare in this country - the digitalisation of health records. I have always been of the view that if we could use that data in an anonymised fashion to inform clinical research, that has the potential to be transformative. Some incredible work has been done by, for example, the clinical research centre in UCD but I am quite certain that if we knew we could share our data in an anonymised way to inform research into dementia or other conditions, we would be happy to do so. We need a greater emphasis on clinical research.

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