Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with what the previous speakers said. If it was any other circumstance where some wrongdoings were found to be going on a number of years earlier, action would have been taken. Given that the HSE had flagged this issue back in 2009, why did it not go to the Garda immediately? We are talking about serious allegations involving an extremely large amount of money.

This is most damaging to the NGOs, the voluntary sector and the other charities that deal with suicide and suicide prevention which do amazing work. We are hoping to be able to improve all these services nationwide. It beggars belief that it was not flagged sooner. This is 2016. One has to commend the bodies involved in the investigation.

I welcome that Console has not been adversely affected, but I fear that the staff working there are probably under much more pressure now and that should not be the case. For more than 14 years I have been involved with NGOs dealing with suicide and suicide prevention. This results in an air of suspicion being associated with people who are genuinely interested in helping others. We have to praise the people who are delivering the service, given that the State has failed to deliver the service.

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