Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for being here. I was listening to them on the television in my office. Since I have come down, I heard Dr. Hillery talking about mental health and that we need another regulator. I would say to Dr. Hillery that I think we have enough regulators but we need services. In Kerry, we certainly do not have adequate mental health residential care. Again this week, there was a very serious matter of a young person who was suicidal and had to be moved outside of our county. That is happening too much to many people in south Kerry CAMHS and north Kerry CAMHS. The issue in north Kerry is still far from being resolved. Many people are upset and may never be satisfied with what went on there. We were told a junior locum doctor was the cause of the problem in south Kerry. We then found the same thing was replicated in north Kerry and we did not get any excuse for that. I believe it is happening all around our country. The lack of residential care places for people presenting with mental health issues in Kerry is one of my concerns.

The witnesses talked about decongregating settings for people with serious disabilities. One size does not fit all. While decongregating will suit some, and it is grand if they are able to go out into the world, there are more whom it will not suit.

We have a wonderful facility, St. Mary of the Angels in Beaufort, which is being closed by stealth. It is unfortunate that, in the first place, the whole 60 acres or whatever is there was given over to the Department of Health to build this facility. It has done Trojan work, the staff who work there have handed down expertise from generation to generation and they have been able to deal with all kinds of unfortunate people who have finished up there. We find out now, however, that when someone who has been in residential care passes away, that bed will not be offered to anybody else. I had a serious case last year when the father of a big girl of 35 or 36 years of age died. She was going there for respite. When her father died, her mum was no longer able to manage or mind her. We were trying to get a residential care place for her. First, she was offered a place in Tipperary. That went on for months. The mum would not subscribe to or agree to that. Lo and behold, a worse offer came. She was offered a place in County Meath. She was in St. Mary of the Angels temporarily. She would have been moved out and that would have been it but for the fact someone died there and I put tremendous pressure on the Minister. The girl was left there on a temporary basis, and it is still temporary. It is fine to say to close everything down, but do not close it down until there is something better.

If decongregation suits some, it does not suit all. There are people with expertise. The facility is there. It has pools and everything. Significant work has been put into that place. It is easier to manage a number of these sad cases in one place. If the Government or whoever wants to close it down, it must find some place better or do something better. I am asking that single units be built on the campus of this site if it wants to keep people separate. Someone referred to medicines and it being easier to treat people in separate, decongregated settings. That is fine but why abandon this wonderful place? It can be developed and improved. All I am asking is for the witnesses to consider this when talking about decongregation. They should not do it until they have something better.

It is like having a good player on the Kerry team, and fellows say he is slowing down and that he might not be doing as well as he was. That is all right. Do not do away with him and throw him onto the rubbish heap until you get some fellow better. That is what I am saying. The model we have in St. Mary of the Angels is, to my mind, perfect when you see the other option of where to send this poor girl. Her mum would be able to visit her maybe once a year if she took the option of going to County Meath. We must consider all these things in the whole before serious decisions are made. I understand people like that little girl are being born all the time. The problem is not going away.