Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not know what happened to that proposal. I speak not only to HSE people but to the people who deliver the service on the ground and I speak to one person in particular in Wexford on a regular basis. An investment of more than €18 million has been made in Wexford. A Vision for Change was published in 2006 and I believe it needs to be updated, but I have to say that if I listened to every request for an acute hospital I would reopen every psychiatric hospital in the country. On the other hand, I have a magnificent new unit in Cork in which people will not work, which is illogical in regard to psychiatric services. Wexford is well served with day hospitals, as the Deputy rightly said. There is a respite unit, crisis houses and an assessment nurse which many other places do not have. Also the ECD who runs the service in Waterford is an incredible man. When I ask him questions such as the one the Deputy has asked, and I will inquire about it with him, he tells me there has never been a case where somebody needed to be admitted who was not admitted. There may be instances where people need to be assessed and returned to their own community and I have no doubt that happens. I will make further inquiries on foot of the Deputy's parliamentary question.

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