Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not presume for a second that this is an easy area to deal with. In his reply the Minister referred to the high priority cases. While they are of major concern, I asked about those of a medium or lower priority. How many of them are there?

There is little doubt that there are significant challenges in this area and there is not quite enough allocation. Deputy Boyd Barrett linked this area with mental health. In a place like Wexford, where there is no residential institution for people with mental health challenges, the lack of help in this area is glaring. People in Wexford are told to go either to Newcastle or Waterford although the centres there have not improved, a fact the Minister would be familiar with from having been in the Department of Health.

Does the Minister agree that if social workers do not deal with problems at an early stage that will move the burden to the mental health services? They need to deal not only with the high priority cases but also the low and medium priority ones. This must be a challenge for the Government. It needs to deal with the problem at source. I know there is not a bottomless pot of money to deal with these cases but the Government is sowing financial and social problems for the future by not dealing with them at an early stage.

See this speech in context