Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá a fhios agam. Níor mhaith liom cur isteach ar an díospóireacht idir an Taoiseach agus ceannaire Fhianna Fáil. Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Taoiseach faoi féinmharú. Last weekend a suicidal man was turned away from the acute mental hospital unit in Roscommon. According to the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA, that unit does not have the required level of staff to deal with patients. This crisis has been exacerbated by the Government's cuts agenda, specifically the closure of St. Luke's ward in Ballinasloe. We have talked about this before. As many as 1,000 citizens are reported to have taken their own lives - that is three people every day throughout this island. That figure does not deal with self-harm or with those whose deaths are not reported as suicides. In spite of this suicide tsunami, suicide prevention and mental health services are seriously under-resourced.

Tá sé an-soiléir ó na figiúirí atá foilsithe gurb é féinmharú fadhb mhór na linne seo. Cuireann an easpa acmhainní leis an bhfulaingt. Yesterday, An Teachta Ó Snodaigh raised the case of a young girl who spent four days in an accident and emergency department in Cork because there is a shortage of beds in the child and adolescent mental health services unit. She was eventually transferred to the adult unit. Surely it is not acceptable that children should be admitted to adult mental health units, yet 106 children have been thus admitted. A quarter of all children who presented with mental health issues - 106 children - were admitted to adult mental health units last year. Does the Taoiseach accept this is a crisis? Has he heard what Mr. Paul Gilligan, the clinical psychologist and CEO at St. Patrick's University Hospital, stated? He said the State was failing these young people.

Does the Taoiseach accept that our mental health services are seriously under-resourced and will he ensure that the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, intervenes immediately to tackle the crisis in Roscommon? Does he agree that a wider response across the island is required?

See this speech in context