Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know the Taoiseach is limited in what he can say on these matters. I wonder what consideration has been given to the crisis in health and the ongoing issues in that regard. Approximately €14.7 billion in real terms is being put into health. This clearly cannot sustain the hospitals or the clinics.

I would like to look at the issue of mental health, in particular. It has been the Cinderella of the health services for a long time. Will it suffer again when we are told at the end of the year that the health budget has been spent? What will happen if the EU says the Government cannot bail it out? Will mental health services be targeted again? I know the Taoiseach cannot talk about the detail of what is discussed at the Cabinet committee, but I suggest that this issue be brought to the committee for its consideration.

Last week, I visited the Ladywell mental health centre in Dundalk, which provides services for much of north Louth. The staff are very dedicated, as we would expect, but the conditions in which they are forced to treat patients are absolutely unsuitable. The building is over 70 years old and is inappropriate for staff and patients. Additional members of staff were allocated to the centre some time ago, which was very welcome, but there were no facilities in Ladywell to accommodate them. Instead, they are working out of St. Brigid's Hospital in Ardee. Patients have to travel from as far away as Carlingford for appointments there.

Is the need for strategic investment in the development and enhancement of mental health services the type of issue the Cabinet committee looks at? The Government loudly announced its decision to set up 14 new primary care centres, and the European Investment Bank cleared a loan of €70 million to that end, but none of the centres are in the north-east region. If one omits the Dublin region, including the constituency of the former Minister for Health, there will be no centres at all in the north east. I would like to know why this is the case. Do citizens and mental health staff in the region not have an entitlement to first-class modern mental health services?

I will conclude by mentioning that there are 444 hospital patients on hospital trolleys today. That is a huge number. Despite the significant efforts of the staff at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, the hospital has one of the highest numbers of patients on trolleys. This is the responsibility of the Government. How does the Government expect to cope or deal with such problems if it is not budgeting properly in the health sector? The persistent under-resourcing of primary and community care, which results from Government failures, means that more and more people who do not need to end up in hospital are ending up in hospital. Will the Taoiseach give the House a commitment that the need to tackle primary and community health care, and particularly the issue of mental health facilities, will be raised at the next meeting of the Cabinet committee on health?

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