Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this important issue and acknowledge the good work done by my colleague, Deputy Murphy O'Mahony, in this regard. We want to stay positive, but it is worth pointing out the facts. For example, the implementation plan for the national policy, which was due to be published in June, has still not been published. As my colleague, Deputy O'Loughlin, said, Ireland has the lowest number of consultant neurologists in Europe. This is disappointing.

We need investment and delivery because the services that are required by people who are suffering in this way are not present on the ground.

Despite what we speak about and what statistics we churn out in the House each day, this is not helping people who cannot access the supports they need on a daily and weekly basis. The Neurological Alliance of Ireland reported that 800,000 people in Ireland currently live with a neurological condition. As we know, services in various counties are not good. In my constituency, Kildare North, they are extremely poor.

In 2015 a person who reported to a GP with a brain injury was sent to the accident and emergency in Blanchardstown because there were no facilities in Beaumont. The person spent 13 hours waiting to be seen and two days on a trolley. From there, the person was referred to Beaumont Hospital. Another person who came to me was a constituent who suffered a serious brain injury in 2003 and was discharged without any follow-up care. As a result, he became very ill about three months ago. The family approached the State for support but unless they received some today, they have heard nothing from the State in that regard which is extremely disappointing. The only support he has received is from a voluntary organisation, the Abbey Community Project which has operated in Celbridge for ten years and helps people who have a dual diagnosis or those with mental health difficulties. It receives no State funding, an issue which I have pursued for over a year with the Minister of State's colleagues in terms of trying to give it some support. Without the support of that community group, this individual would have nothing, and has had nothing up to today unless he received help today.

When I contacted the Minister's office in an attempt to secure some support for this man, I was told to refer him to a weekly clinic in Kildare town which was 40 miles away. That was the best that came back from the Minister's office, which is extremely disappointing. Nothing was received from the State. The suggestion from the Minister's office is of no use to someone who is walking the roads, sleeping rough and missing from home because of a condition, resulting from a brain injury, over which he has no control. Why is this the case? It is because the required supports are not in place. We need to turn a negative into a positive, through the work of the Minister of State and the Government, and try to put supports and investment in place to help people who are suffering in this regard and are in urgent need of help. Without services, such people will find themselves in a very lonely place and things could become more serious or tragic for them.

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