Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are definitely parts of the health service which could not be cut back any more and which need extra money. However, when it comes to capital spending, it seems the worst possible thing that could happen to a hospital or health facility is for the Government to upgrade it. In the 1970s the government upgraded the maternity unit in Roscommon Hospital, and guess what? They closed it before the 1970s were over. In the noughties they upgraded the accident and emergency unit in Roscommon and - guess what? - it was closed.

In County Galway, €3 million has been spent in Ballinasloe on a high-class unit with unbreakable windows and toilets and a ligature-free environment for geriatrics. We certainly are short of money, but there are two reasons for that. One is that we have socialists such as Senator Lorraine Higgins who have a problem deciding whether we should tax more or cut services. The other reason is that money is being wasted.

Like everyone in the Dáil, I have attended many meetings over the years. The meeting I attended last Friday night, however, was probably the most emotional one I have ever attended in my life. We heard of a situation in the psychiatric unit in Galway, which is where the Minister is planning to shoehorn people in from Ballinasloe when he rips the beds out and closes it. We heard a tale from a clinician there that 31 people were expected to share three showers. It was not that bad, we were told, because they also had one bath, but guess what? The bath does not work. All that comes out of the bath taps is scalding hot water. We heard stories of how patients shiver in corridors waiting for a shower. I have seen the film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" on quite a few occasions and the only hope I got from Friday's meeting was that at least it is not like that any more. At that meeting we heard many such stories, but apparently we are just NIMBYs for saying this. Dr. Barton, who was at that meeting, is anything but a NIMBY. I can criticise him for one thing though - he ran for Fine Gael at one stage, but no one is perfect.

At Friday's meeting we heard from a clinician with no political axe to grind who only cares about patients. On two separate occasions, when he was explaining why he was so distressed by the closure of the unit in Ballinasloe, he broke down and had to wipe tears from his eyes. This was obviously a NIMBY at work, according to the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is a latter-day Margaret Thatcher. She did say she hoped she would never sound like Margaret Thatcher, but now she does.

We can talk about finances all day long, but a good unit is being closed down although it is working perfectly well. In addition, people are being shoehorned into a place that has a duck pond on the roof because so much water is building up on it. The water is being held up by rolled steel joists, so people are waking up in wet beds. We are told that this happens everywhere because it is raining all over the country and everyone's house is leaking. I am sorry, but I do not live in a dump and my house fortunately does not leak. I would love to know where these HSE officials live if they think that is normal. I imagine they are saying these things to shut us up. I hate saying this because it discourages people from using that unit. As someone who had mental health problems in the past - and coming from a family that suffered from the black dog visiting their door regularly - I do not like saying this. I went to the hospital the morning after that meeting to try to see the unit. I was wary of going because the last thing one wants to do is impose on people. However, when we arrived there we were not allowed to see the unit due to patient confidentiality. That would be a legitimate excuse if there was anyone in there, but we were not allowed in. We were told that five showers were working in this glorified "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" institution, but we were not allowed to see inside. It is like dealing with a child who hides something behind its back but refuses to show it when asked. One becomes suspicious that perhaps it does have something behind its back. What were they hiding at that unit? If they are sure it is that good, why would they not let us in? Anyone who says we have a cheek to go there should remember that a year ago we were being asked to go to this unit to see how wonderful it was.

Now, when we want to see it, we are not allowed to see it. What the hell is the Government hiding? We have a system working perfectly in Ballinasloe and the Government is closing it down. Last night, an extraordinary event took place. I was on my way to Castlerea to visit my family and I discovered a protest taking place outside the gates of St. Brigid's Hospital. Fair dues to the people who had gathered in numbers to physically stop the removal of beds from the unit. The HSE saw fit to call the Garda Síochána. We can hardly call this respect for the issue of mental health. For those calling these people NIMBYs, they were parents and relatives of service users, along with staff, to defend what rightfully should have been defended.

We met Deputy Kathleen Lynch a couple of months ago and I was fooled by her for a while. She sounds like she empathises and I believed her for a while but I stopped believing this latter-day self-described Maggie Thatcher. She told us the reason they spent so much money on the unit was that patients could not hang themselves, throw themselves through windows or smashed toilet bowls. She said that it was for elderly people. I asked why she spent so much money on an inappropriate unit and I was told with a straight face that the elderly deserve the best. If the elderly deserve the best, we could have saved money there and had more services instead of spending it all on capital funding and then not using the unit. We also have an empty unit in Galway because we cannot afford to staff it. Every time someone commits suicide, we read it in the newspaper and people are rightfully saddened and shocked but at this point we say conclusively that the tears being cried by the Government are crocodile tears and nothing else. If the Government cared about this, it would keep what works and get rid of what does not work.

What is the Government planning for the future? It is planning to move everyone to Galway city. Apparently, it will build a new 50-bed unit. I do not believe that. Even if it was done, it places another facility in a place where there is no room. I and my family had to go through the anguish of queuing to get into a car park, wondering whether my mother would be dead by the time we got a parking space. I am not exaggerating, this happens on a regular basis. Now, the master plan for people with mental illness is to bring them into a crowded area and a stress-inducing built-up area. If people are not stressed or do not have mental health problems going in, they will have one coming out. It is hell to get there. If we lived in Hong Kong or some Chinese city where there is no room, it would be fine to build on that site but we live in the least congested area in the whole of Europe and the best way to get someone better is to put them into an environment where they can breathe in the air and not the diesel fumes, where they can roam around the wild countryside, which they can do in Ballinasloe. It is not to put them into a place that will destroy their mental health. I say this not as a politician or a NIMBY but as someone who cares about these people. I have lost hope in the assertion that the Government cares. At this stage, it is not politics and war must be declared on the Government for what it has done to these people.

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