Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The mental health services are under huge strain and Ireland has one of the highest rates of suicide in Europe. People are still being turned away from accident and emergency departments and last year's reports on the recruitment of nurses revealed that only one third of the numbers required had been recruited from the funds provided by the Minister for Health. A Vision for Change which was part of the programme for Government promised a new beginning. Hundreds of nurses are about to retire, the majority from mental health services. We have received warnings from senior personnel in mental health services that a huge problem is coming down the road. It is even bigger than the problems we are dealing with. Will the Tánaiste seek to address this issue, as promised in the programme for Government?

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