Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Would the Minister, in all honesty, come into work day after day if he thought he might be punched in the jaw or the stomach, and if he thought there were not enough staff to prevent that from happening? For the Minister to suggest there is no direct connection between staffing levels and the chaotic and dangerous situation in our mental health services is preposterous. It is well established that a lack of staff or an over-reliance on agency staff jeopardises patient and worker safety.

I have asked the Minister directly, in respect of child mental health services, whether the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, misled the House when she said that staffing levels in youth mental health services were up to 80% and that there was an agreement on protocols for 16 and 17 year olds. This week the Irish Medical Organisation said that what the Minister of State said last September was not true, that staffing levels are at 55% and that no agreement is in place on protocols for 16 or 17 year olds. Indeed, a review group was set up. At one of the meetings, the HSE did not turn up at all. Then, at the second meeting, the HSE walked out when the IMO raised the issue of whether staffing levels were sufficient to deal with 16 and 17 year olds. Was the House misled? Is the Minister going to take serious action to deal with this crisis?

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