Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Samaritans. I have referred a number of people to the Samaritans because they were not getting the services they needed at the time.

I thank the Samaritans for being there and for listening to others in need. I thank the staff for going above and beyond in their work during the challenging times brought about by Covid-19 right across the Thirty-two Counties.

It was mentioned that the busiest time is between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. That stood out for me. We heard several times from witnesses appearing before this committee that problems with mental health and emotional distress do not just occur between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and then take a break for the weekend. Such problems can occur at any time of the day and on any day of the week. If a service is not open to people when they are experiencing emotional distress, it can be quite a frightening place for them. Had people calling between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., and it was mentioned that a quarter of calls were received during those hours, tried to contact other services? I refer to other mental health, eating disorder, suicide and counselling services. I would be interested to know if the people calling had indicated whether they might have tried to contact another service before calling the Samaritans and were unable to do so.