Ms Suzanne Connolly:

What I would say to legislators is that it is very important they ensure the community and voluntary sector and the services they provide get the money they need to be run effectively. It is not just Barnardos. We work with children and families on the edge. On the Deputy’s point about children who die by suicide, we have situations where parents have died by suicide and children are left without their parents. Along with others, we provide crucial services yet we have not had any increase in the basic budget we get from Tusla for ten to 12 years. That is not right. It is not right for the children, young people and parents we work with in the heart of local communities.

We have waiting lists. When children, young people and their parents need a service, they should be able to get that service. They need it when they need it. It is tragic. I have heard over the past couple of months of at least three parents who have died by suicide, including one situation where a young boy found his dad. That dad was trying really hard to stay off drugs but he was at that crucial time where he was detoxing and he accidentally slipped up, or we think that is what happened. I do not want to be talking to the Deputy in a year’s time with those things happening again. We can do something with the right resourcing and, as we said, with really good interdepartmental ownership of the issues.