Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, and wish him well. He is a very fine advocate. I also commend his predecessor, Deputy McEntee, on her work. I commend Deputy Browne on the work he has done on this Bill. I pay tribute to all those in the House who have been advocates, Deputies Neville and Buckley and all who have contributed in a positive and unified way. It is important to note that and their ideas.

The Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy McHugh spoke of the pressures on young people from social and electronic media and the simple matter of talking to his father and having that line of communication open. There are pressures on parents as well, trying to understand that dynamic and change. There should be help and support for them. Many parents are not aware of the pressures on their own children. I am not talking only about teenagers. Deputy McHugh spoke about teenagers but very young children are also exposed to those pressures. Someone said earlier in the debate "if only we knew". Parents and guardians of children need a lot of help and understanding.

I believe the Minister of State, the Government and all parties are committed to working to achieve real progress in this sphere. It is frustrating that the good work the Minister, the Government and House do is not replicated by those delivering the services. This time last year I spoke in the House about the services in my county and pressed hard to see that they were retained. Nine months after the closure of the acute psychiatric unit in Our Lady's Hospital in Navan, there is not a fully operational mental health day service there. The closure last September was part of a plan to provide a centralised acute service at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, which I disagreed with. A mental health day hospital should have been opened following the closure of the unit in Navan in order that some local supports would be available, but the HSE admits that it does not have the full-time staff or facilities in place for this service to operate. That is very disappointing, and the head of mental health services in our county has admitted that, but there is no plan to do that. There is a willingness and determination on all sides in the House, but the reality on the ground does not match that. It is deeply frustrating that having raised this with the Minister of State a year ago that the service is not in place nine months on. Will the Minister of State look into that? I wish him well in his role and hope that real change does happen. If a mental health service day centre cannot be operational nine months after the closure of a unit, there is a gap between the policy and the reality.

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