Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ten years ago A Vision for Change held out the promise of a modern, responsive, resourced service for people in crisis and with mental illness, including those with suicidal ideation and who are in acute danger. Ten years on that promise has been broken. That is a fact. All of the talk of political will and priority only serves to highlight the fact that for the past ten years mental health has not been a political priority and that there has not been the political will to ensure that young men such as Ryan, or anyone else in a state of deep and profound distress and crisis, is not left in accident and emergency units for eight hours or longer, because that is the common experience. It is wrong for people in that level of distress to be in accident and emergency units, which as we know are overrun and overburdened as it is.

The Tánaiste mentioned CAMHS. That is a fantastic service but it also has a disgraceful waiting list. The Tánaiste knows that. What I want from the Tánaiste today, and what I know the Dempsey family and others want, is to hear that when the budget comes in October, all of this political will of which the Tánaiste speaks will translate itself in real terms into funds, staff and a plan which, unlike A Vision for Change, will be delivered. If we are to remember and offer sympathy to the family of Ryan Dempsey, surely the only solace and comfort we can offer is that we fix the system and ensure that the political will is more than simple rhetoric.

See this speech in context