Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's commitment to protecting services. The single most important issue here is the need for support to be provided to those who are feeling suicidal and those who have been bereaved through the suicide of a family member. They need to have someone they can call. The staff of Console have continued to maintain such services in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. We need to know whether there is a future for a reformed Console, or whether the services currently provided by Console will be subsumed into another organisation or charity involved in the provision of mental health services. I have not been impressed by the lack of direct political involvement in dealing with this issue. Even though it has probably been the single biggest domestic news story of recent weeks, not a single Minister with direct line responsibility has taken the initiative to talk to the staff of Console or to the interim chief executive officer, who has had to go to incredible lengths to deal with the issues flowing from the revelations about how this organisation is being run. Does Console have a future? Is the Government giving a guarantee that the services on which people rely will be continued and protected? If so, in what form will they be provided? Given the sensitive and personal nature of the services involved here, which can and do save lives, there can be no gap in their provision. We all need to remember that 5,500 individual counselling sessions were provided last year. That is what we are seeking to protect here, despite the appalling betrayal of trust that was perpetrated by those involved in running Console.

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