Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy McDonald recounted that individual story, everyone's thoughts in this House are with the family of the young man who lost his life so tragically. Mental health is a priority. We all know it has not been a priority in this country for decades but there is increased investment to ensure that young men and women get the kind of services they need at times of acute psychological distress. There is no excuse, however, for poor professional practice. If a person turns up at a centre, it is clear that proper risk assessments must be made and appropriate action taken. Next week the Minister of State in the Department of Health will present a memo for information to the Cabinet on the establishment of a youth mental health task force to ensure there is an even greater focus on this area. That is part of the process of enhancing services and raising the national conversation to ensure greater awareness of mental health issues. The investment the Government is providing in both adult and children’s psychiatric services will ensure that the kind of risk assessment that is needed is done and that services are available both locally and nationally.

Deputy McDonald is aware that health funding has increased by 5.2% or €41 million and €35 million has been ring-fenced for the mental health area. We have much work to do in the area of mental health to ensure there is a consistent service throughout the country and that young people who turn up at accident and emergency units are referred and have the appropriate crisis service.

As a former Minister for Children and Youth Affairs I am very familiar with the area of children’s services where there has been a significant improvement. We now have 67 child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, teams around the country. As the Deputy is aware there have been recruitment difficulties but those services provide a range of specialist services for young people. Very often it is the 18 to 25 year age group that have had difficulties as they fall between the children’s services and appropriate adult services but I assure the House that there is a greater focus on the area. The Minister of State will focus her attention on it and once the task force is established then a variety of actions will be taken to ensure that the mental health services continue to develop to meet the needs of young men such as the one described by Deputy McDonald who so tragically lost his life.

There is increased investment. The agreed HSE service plan for 2016 highlights the priorities such as the development of counselling services, increased Jigsaw centres that reach out to particularly vulnerable young people in communities across the country and community mental health facilities, to which Deputy McDonald specifically referred, as well as better liaison between acute hospitals and mental health services. That is where the priorities lie. I expect that those services will continue to develop in the coming months because the funding is in place and the political will exists to make sure that we have the kind of mental health services people need.

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