Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I agree in general terms with the Deputy's suggestion that imbalance in mental health can be a factor in the cause of suicide, though it is clear that many factors are involved, and I am not able, as Minister of State with responsibility for policy in the area, to give a diagnosis or clinical assessment, since I do not have the same expertise as the Deputy. However, regarding the general question of the mental health services for children and adolescents, it has been recognised for several years that there are difficulties; that is why the reports were commissioned. On foot of those reports, the decision was recently taken to allow the design teams to go to tender.

The project teams have been established to develop child and adolescent inpatient psychiatric units in Cork, Limerick and Galway. That has now been sanctioned, and that is the key point. The proposed unit in Cork will consist of 20 in-patient beds, the unit at Dooradoyle, County Limerick, will have 14 in-patient beds, and the child and adolescent unit in Merlin Park Hospital, Galway, will have 20 in-patient beds. There will clearly be an increase in capacity when those plans are implemented.

See this speech in context