Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am asking a general question about an essential service in a Gaeltacht area. Mr. O'Brien might bear that in mind when he answers it in written form. I have pursued this issue through correspondence and parliamentary questions since last August. That is that.

I will return to whether the health service has adequate funding and the collateral damage of having people on trolleys and long waiting lists. I left this room to take a telephone call, which is very unusual for me. The details of the call were that virtually for the fourth week in a row, a person has been refused admission to the psychiatric unit in Galway, threatening serious harm to himself or herself - I will not identify the person. This is the fourth week in a row that patients - it has been a different person each week - has been refused admission. Again, I am not asking the witnesses to comment on a specific person. This is, however, an ongoing saga in the psychiatric unit in Galway, which is not fit for purpose and is refusing seriously ill people admission.

I started off my contribution by making a point with which I will also finish. How can Mr. O'Brien stand over a health service with its budget which is literally turning people in crisis in Galway city away from the door? Has this matter been brought to his attention in recent weeks? Have urgent representations been made to him? Is he aware that the Mental Health Commission has taken the unusual step of going back into the hospital following its annual visit?