Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While I welcome what the Minister of State said, "slow and inconsistent" was the opinion of the Mental Health Commission and the finding of the independent monitoring group. The last time the group sat was 2012 and yet the Minister of State stands up and tells me what money has gone into it. While I welcome the investment, there is no independent group to tell us how effectively it is being used and whether it is being used at all in the most efficient way possible. That was all anticipated. Now we are going forward with another review that is going to take the whole year. To me it is unacceptable. All of this was laid down in 2006 and even then it was not in a vacuum. It was based on a report going back to 1984 on planning for the future. It is extraordinary that we find ourselves in 2016 with the tender only now going out and the review group. It will not be ready until the end of the year while in the meantime, the Minister of State cannot tell me whether an independent group will be set up to monitor what has happened to date. That was part of the original recommendation. All of that said, the plan should be taken together and not piecemeal.

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