Ryan welcomes funding for older persons facilities
Sinn Féin spokesperson for older people, Patricia Ryan TD, has welcomed the allocation of €6.6million in Health Capital Funding for County Kildare. Speaking in her office in Athy, Patricia said:
“I welcome the funding announcement for St. Vincent’s Hospital in Athy. I raised the delays on the project with the Minister for Health recently and I am delighted to see that he has taken on board my concerns. We need to deliver this facility as soon as possible and hopefully the allocation of €800,000 will help to progress plans for a 95-bed community Nursing Unit to replace the existing capacity at St Vincent’s. An additional €100,000 is earmarked towards plans for the renovation of an existing vacant ward and conversion to a Day Care Centre.
I am also delighted to see that €1.09m is allocated towards the renovation of Monasterevin Day Care Centre. As a member of the Committee, we have been fighting for this funding for years, and we are finally taking a step closer to completing the renovations at Drogheda Street, Monasterevin. We need swift action to deliver it as soon as possible, it’s absence is deeply felt in the community.
€100,000 is being allocated to develop a 10 bed High Support Community Residence in Kildare town and €50,000 will be provided for the renovation and conversion of the vacant Kilmeague Health Centre for use as Community Day Care Centre and provision of a Meals on Wheels facility to be operated by St. Vincent de Paul. One in four of the population is set to be over 65 in the next 20 years and now is the time to invest in facilities for our older people,” she concluded.