Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister of State well in his new job. However, I honestly would have expected a different answer. This is a service that is working and it should be examined because it really could inform policy. The figure mentioned by Deputy Anne Rabbitte is in regard to the existing service, which is looking for a slight increase to cover three new areas, Gort, Carna and Clifden. It is a unique service because Jigsaw does not give a service to 12 year olds. We have these young children and adolescents walking in, getting a unique service and coming out the better for it, as they informed us when we met them on Monday.

We are standing here across party and across constituencies in that we have support from all three constituencies, Galway West, Galway East and Roscommon-Galway. I am appealing to the Minister of State to take a hands-on approach. I appreciate it is Civil Service-speak that has come back in the answer and we do not need that. These are young people who have shown an interest in the political system, who have used their time to educate us and who have given us a solution, and that solution will save the Government money. I hesitate to mention the suicide statistics for that age group and I want to avoid that. I ask the Minister of State to come back to us with a hands-on approach.

See this speech in context