Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The most important message going out here tonight is that if people need help, it is there. Nobody should have to depend on luck for services but, unfortunately, in some cases, that is the situation. Location should not matter when it comes to the difference between care and no care but, unfortunately, that is the situation in parts of our country. Two weeks ago in my constituency, there were three suicides, one after the other. They involved three young people in one parish in my constituency. One can imagine the impact it had on that area. If there were three separate accidents on the road, what would happen? There would be discussion and extra services. I do not know about any extra services that have been put into my area following these tragedies. That is part of the difficulty.

One person from my constituency who is in the Public Gallery tonight was told by the HSE that there were no funds to run a crisis training course so she went out and got her own funding, venue and facilitators. She has now been told by the HSE that nobody is allowed to self fund to provide these services. Someone make sense of that. I can introduce the Minister of State to the person in question afterwards or write to her about the case. It does not make any sense.

I think we would all accept that this country has improved greatly over the past number of years and we have had a discussion here tonight regarding what needs to be done. I cannot understand it when people show their bravery, and it is bravery. In some cases, they go to the accident and emergency department to look for services but the problem then is that the services are not there and are not suitable in many cases. We need properly trained staff. Am I on my own here tonight? It is incredible that there is no State-wide 24-7 crisis intervention service for people in emergency health care. That is the big question. This debate has been sad and disappointing and an awful element was introduced by the Minister of State, Deputy Regina Doherty. At the end of the day, we need to talk about how we are going to do things differently - that there is a greater awareness, that there will be more resources and that we will do things better. Surely if we can agree on that, regardless of motions or anything else, that will be a good step forward.

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