The Alzheimer Society of Ireland is calling on the Government to maintain moment in funding dementia support and services in Budget 2025 by funding much-needed dementia-specific Day Care at Home Services in Waterford.
The ASI is looking to increase its Day Care at Home offering in Waterford in areas such as Dungarvan and Cappoquin – but this is pending funding being allocated from the Government in Budget 2025 taking place on October 1st.
In June, The ASI called on the Government to invest €5.5 million in dementia supports and services to address inequity of access across the country. The recommendations are contained in The ASI’s Pre-Budget Submission 2025; Equal Dementia Supports, Building on Momentum in 2025.
The ASI’s submission asks Government to build on the momentum of the past four years with an investment of €5.5m.
The ASI is seeking an increase in funding for Dementia Specific Day Care at Home Services by €1,000,000 in Budget 2025 to expand the reach of the services across all areas across the country.
Day Care at Home meets an urgent unmet need for people with dementia and their families by providing variety, stimulation, and personalised enjoyable activities. It delivers quality psycho-social support by providing person-centred activities in block hours.
In addition, the ASI is calling on the Government to invest €600,000 in the expansion of Day Centres outside major cities.
Further investment in dementia-specific Day Centres is essential to support people with dementia, at different stages of their journey, to remain at home in their communities and to provide respite to family carers. There are currently 53 Day Centres in operation across the Republic of Ireland and in 2023 The ASI had just over 63,000 attendances which equates to 1,939 people.
Pictured: Head of Operations & Community Engagement, Siobhan O'Connor (centre) with Operations team (l-r) Breda Twohig, Carol Molloy, Heather Musgrave Niall Comber. Photo: Karen Morgan.
