The support group Sage Advocacy has called for day care centres for older people to be reopened. The charity says, with staff and clients of the centres vaccinated for Covid-19, there is no reason for them to remain closed.
It says older people need access to the centres and to each other as a social outlet. Angela and Willie Leahy are a couple in their 80s from Abbeydorney, near Tralee, Co Kerry.
Both were recently vaccinated and cannot wait to get back to Baile Mhuire, their day care centre in Tralee which has been closed for the past 15 months. "It means everything to me," Willie says. "I have great freedom there - nice people as well." For Angela, Baile Mhiuire offers the opportunity of a little respite. "Well, it meant a lot to me that