I want to highlight the excellent physio service we have at St. Joseph's care centre in Longford. Following a recent HIQA report, however, there were queries about the location of it with regard to the older persons who were in the care centre and who have had to move location on site. There are now fears among staff and the 4,000 people who attend that service in the care centre that the service could be moved to Athlone or Mullingar. That would not be acceptable. I have met with the Minister of State, Kieran O'Donnell, and HSE officials in older persons' services with regard to this. They have put forward proposals to maintain that service on that site. I want a commitment to the people of Longford, the service users and the staff that this will happen. We have lost a number of services over the years in our county and we will not accept losing this service where there are alternatives. I want common sense to prevail and older persons services, primary care and HIQA to come to a common-sense agreement to keep that service on site.

I appreciate the Deputy raising this very serious issue for the community. As he says, the services were delivered in clinics located in the corridor that was part of the designated centre, I believe, and the residents' environment. This necessitated restrictive, controlled access to the community nursing unit and resulted in restricted movement for the residents. As part of the compliance plan for St. Joseph's, a commitment was given to HIQA supporting free access for residents to their home, which is the designated centre. To achieve this, alternative access to therapy services was required, apparently. Older persons' services worked with primary care services to provide short-term alternative accommodation to allow for time to source a longer term solution. Therapy services were relocated to another part of St. Joseph's campus in Longford within the same building where they are accessed by a new entrance. The HSE confirmed on 10 June that physiotherapy services are fully operational from St. Joseph's care centre, and the HSE confirmed that a feasibility study has been carried out. I think a decision will be made on 20 June. I will relay the Deputy's concerns to the Minister.