Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When Fianna Fáil was in government, it gave us the Vision for Change policy document, which was supposedly a blueprint for the delivery of mental health services in our communities. However, it also gave us the recruitment moratorium, among other things, not least of which was an apparent indifference to the plight of those dealing with mental health issues. The moratorium contributed to the crisis that now faces workers and service users in our mental health services. The moratorium was introduced by Fianna Fáil but it was taken up with enthusiasm by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. The moratorium is a blunt instrument which has impacted disproportionately on our mental health services, leaving those services short-staffed and under-resourced. A recent study undertaken by the RCSI and the PNA makes for alarming reading and seriously calls into question the commitment of the outgoing Government and its acting Ministers to the mental health of the people of the State. The most significant service deficiencies are a lack of crisis services, assertive outreach and ICRU services. Of respondents to the survey, 74% do not have access to a crisis health service based on the A Vision for Change framework, 79% said their service did not have an assertive outreach team based on the A Vision for Change framework, and a further 40% indicated a lack of access to residential units within the recovery and rehabilitation services.

The acting Minister is not here. If he were, I would ask him how familiar he is with the work of the mental health services. All of the available evidence suggests he could do with familiarising himself with it a bit better. I am happy to say on behalf of mental health workers that they have been pushed to their limit. They have been left to clear up after this Government and the previous Government, which threw mental health under the metaphorical bus. Workers are in despair at the prospect of further cuts because they cannot cope with the needs of the population as it is. Closing our large psychiatric hospitals may have been a good idea, but leaving those people without support was most definitely not. There is no need to take my word for it. One need only look at the RCSI-PNA report. The evidence is there and the impact of the outgoing Government is plain to see.

We need only cast our minds back two months to look at the Let's Keep the Recovery Going document which states on page 70:

Despite the economic crisis we inherited [courtesy of its new friends in Fianna Fáil], Fine Gael increased the budget for mental health by €160m between 2012-2016, a total increase of 20%. We will continue to provide further resources to ensure services reach people directly. We will publish a plan for the achievement of faster access to comprehensive and appropriate mental health services, building upon A Vision for Change.

In the run-up to the election, Fine Gael members were all very busy patting themselves on the back and rolling out countless statements on what they had done for mental health. When grief-stricken families challenged all parties on their record and plans for this area, Fine Gael was adamant on what it had done and what it would do. Imagine the sheer horror and disgust of the families now at the empty words and flagrant disregard for their stories once the ballots had been cast. What was Fine Gael's solution to the national emergency it created in our health service? Its plan was to raid the mental health budget to shore up its failure to fund other areas, robbing Peter to pay Paul. That is all it is. It will not help those who will tonight need access to mental health services. Fine Gael is relying on the shame and stigma surrounding mental health to push through its plan to drain services. It is hoping people with mental health difficulties will not speak out, but it is very wrong. Those people have allies. Workers in mental health services have allies. Those allies will not be silenced.

The mental health services have often been referred to as the Cinderella of the health service but this is not a pantomime and Fine Gael are not pantomime villains. This is real and involves real people who need real help. Failing to ring-fence the mental health budget will have wide-ranging and long-term consequences. This is the crux of what is wrong in our mental health services: poaching from the mental health service because of a crisis somewhere else. If budgets are always accessible for other uses, it is easy to see why we are where we are. The Government is fire-fighting one problem as the flames are fanned on another. It is one step forward and two steps back. We should all be doing all we can to help our young people. We should be resourcing our mental health professionals and the services they provide. More than talking about early intervention, we should be working with our partners in education North and South of this island to resource a mental health strategy for the whole island which has intervention at its core.

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