Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is as simple as this. I will start with a few points. First, to the people in the Opposition - get over it. The last election took place, Fianna Fáil lost 53 seats and they deserved to lose them. The Minister of State is in government now. Act accordingly, take the decisions and take your bloody medicine when you make a mistake. Let me be the first to say Fianna Fáil lost 53 seats because they made mistakes. It must take a stupid government to come in and not learn from the mistakes of its predecessor, at the very least.

Second, with no disrespect to the Minister of State personally, her ministry is an abject failure because the senior Ministers and the Government to which she is subservient have starved her of resources. Does she know what they have done to her? They announced a few weeks ago through her colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, that they now have guidelines for a whole-school approach on mental health. What was the net result of that? Nothing. They now expect teachers to do the job of the guidance counsellors they cut and lacerated. In the words of Brian Mooney, one of the foremost guidance counsellors in this country, we might as well expect passing motorists to bring victims of car accidents to hospital instead of ambulances. That is the kind of medical planning we have seen by this Government. That is the gombeen approach to somebody who is questioning the Minister of State on it. Call it that if they will.

The Minister of State has been starved of resources. The reality on the ground is that, sadly, the incidence of suicide is increasing and nothing is being done. We consistently pay lip-service in these Houses to mental health and we pontificate about what should be done. We are not doing it. The Minister of State needs €100 million a year and she is being given a skittery €20 million. She is a failure for her inability to make sure that she maintained the €35 million she said she would have.