Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach will know that 500 people take their lives by suicide in the State and 300 do so in the North while upwards of 12,000 people self harm. These are the reported cases. The nine cases I raise with the Taoiseach, however, happened while the people were in the care of the State. Concerns were raised by the clinicians who were in senior positions in the area. Contrary to the Taoiseach's reply, they say they are being ignored. The report on the services was only commissioned six months after the consultants first wrote to the Minister.

Every second week, we hear disturbing revelations about our mental health services. There were 80 admissions of children to adult in-patient psychiatric units last year. The Children's Rights Alliance says this represents a clear breach of children's rights. It is not acceptable. We read in The Irish Timestoday that hundreds of psychiatric patients moved out of mental hospitals in the last few decades are living in totally unsuitable conditions with limited access to health care, which is also contrary to what the Taoiseach said.

Is the Taoiseach concerned that this is a crisis that is costing lives while, once again, the mental health services are very much the Cinderella of an already decaying health service? There is a serious matter here. I would like to think the Taoiseach will take on board in his response the fact that these nine citizens took their own lives while in the care of the State and that the consultants working in the area have withdrawn confidence in the governance of the service.

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