Sometimes, I believe that things happen for a reason. On my way to Leinster House today, I spoke to a friend of mine who talked about the struggles of dealing with a parent with Alzheimer's disease and how difficult it was for the family and, obviously, the person with dementia, who had worked all their lives, to adjust to the situation.

This morning, the Alzheimer Society of Ireland gave a fantastic presentation over in Buswell's Hotel on what it was looking for in the budget. I was drawn to the fact it was looking to expand capacity at existing day care centres. One such centre that badly needs extra resources and money is the Alzheimer's day care centre in Navan, in Whistlemount on the Kells Road. An increase of just €100,000 in the budget will help three day care centres across Ireland. These are the centres in Cork, Navan and Carlow, which are seeing the biggest increases in Alzheimer's cases. Senator Rabbitte would know all about this from her time working in disability services.

The organisation has big asks in what it is looking for in the budget, and I encourage the Leader to write to the Minister to express that the amount of cases each year is growing by 3%. In many cases, Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia are linked to Parkinson's, in which respect we spoke last week about the need for an increased budget. Will the Leader write a letter to the Minister for Health about this matter to see what we can do to help, particularly the Whistlemount Day Care Centre in Navan, County Meath?