Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It was 14 June when I got that response that there were still four posts vacant. I am going to give examples of cases I have been made aware of, and this can be replicated throughout the country. These relate to the Crosslanes psychiatric unit, where people presented themselves at the unit, were turned away, and subsequently went on to take their own lives. There were several such cases. One young man, who was 24, presented there in a very distressed state. He was told to go home and take his medication, and he took his life two days later. There were other cases where people attempted to be admitted when their lives were in imminent danger. Some had referrals from GPs. They did not get the help they needed, they were not admitted and, subsequently, they took their own lives. There were people who were turned away because they were told they either had drink or drugs taken and, obviously, their mental health in such a desperate state was the reason they had done that. They were turned away and subsequently went on to take their lives, in one case actually in a field across the road from the centre.

Another case was brought to my attention. A man had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had been engaged in abusive behaviour. His father took him to the unit and begged for him to be admitted. He was in such a distressed state that he was threatening suicide. He had been sleeping rough and was highly distressed. His arms were ripped to shreds through cutting himself up. They refused to admit him and they said it was because he was not psychotic. This is just one unit. There are other cases where people were left seven hours. They were told to wait outside in their car for seven hours through the night and nobody made contact with them throughout those seven hours. The duty psychologist came out at 7.30 that morning.

The parent said to me that person looked absolutely exhausted from working through the night. It is not only a total systems failure. At what stage are management held to account for this? As I said, that is one unit about which I can give horrific stories of people desperate for help who are turned away and take their own lives. What sort of a system is that? How can that be called a proper system when it is failing people on a daily basis? There are still four vacancies there. Can somebody please tell me who is held to account? Who is held accountable when situations like this arise every other day of the week?