Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My query relates to the question asked by Senator Crown about waiting times. I am aware of a lady who tried to take her life. When she contacted the hospital where she was to see a psychiatrist, she was told it would take eight weeks. Her family was obviously very upset. In spite of that, the doctors in the hospital were able to ring her and tell her to come in as they had a bed for her. I do not understand how a long timespan would be given and then the doctors could change their minds within 24 hours.

Reference was made to a national coalition of 48 NGOs in the context of Mental Health Reform. Following a previous presentation I inquired how many groups were involved in suicide prevention and I did not get an answer. I was told that between 350 and 500 groups were in existence. Could the witnesses comment on those groups and what they are doing, given that we have been told there are 48 groups in the national coalition?

Twice this week I have been contacted by school principals who are extremely worried about adolescent children in their care. They want to know where they can go and who they can get to see. It is not that the children need to be admitted to hospital but they need help. I am aware that when one rings the local support services, one gets an answering machine but one never gets a call-back. Nobody seems to answer the phone. Why is that the case? The support group is based in the locality but it does not respond to people.