I thank the Ceann Comhairle and all the staff for their friendship and help during my term here.

South Tipperary has been failed by this Government and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments over the years. The St. Michael's unit in Clonmel has been closed. We have no mental health beds in south Tipperary. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who is seated behind the Tánaiste, closed St. Brigid's Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir and has refused to reopen it. On 25 October, I asked the Minister of State about the community nursing home in Cashel. She gave me a long list of things that are happening in Nenagh and Clonmel but did not mention Cashel, the issue I asked about. At that stage, €184,000 had been spent but not a block laid or even a site chosen. In the week and a half since, we have been told another €20,000 has been spent, meaning €200,000 has been spent with no site chosen. We need to know what is happening. This is another complete failure by this Government and previous Governments. It is another waste of public money, with €200,000 of public money spent and nothing to show for it.

I thank the Deputy for the question. There is a little bit of short memory going on here. My very first meeting, as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people, was in the Minella hotel in Clonmel.

It was.

I was three days into the brief at the time and the Deputy was present. The Deputy asked me to do two things that day. He asked me to build and open a crisis house in Clonmel, which I did it, and to open a Jigsaw facility, which I also did. Let us get the facts on the ground. The Deputy is talking about older people now. There is, correctly, a new community nursing unit, CNU, in Clonmel. I remind the Deputy that Clonmel is also in his constituency.

I know that. I asked about Cashel.

Allow the Minister of State to answer, please.

The new CNU will be handed over to the HSE in the next three to six months. It is a 50-bed, en suite, state-of-the-art unit which cost €25 million.

It is in Clonmel.

In case anybody might think we forgot about south Tipperary, my good friend Councillor Imelda Goldsboro is at the doors and she has not forgotten one thing about what is happening in Clonmel.

With regard to the CNU the Deputy spoke about, Councillor Roger Kennedy was in touch with me during the week and I engaged again on the matter. I found out from the HSE that it will have a plan in place in the next three months. That is in relation to the site but to reassure the Deputy, this is one of seven CNUs that will be built next year. The money is ring-fenced for the unit and it will go ahead.

Some €200,000 has been wasted.