Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is good we are having this debate. We have had a debate on this issue in this House on numerous occasions during the past two years. It is healthy to have this debate. I understand Deputy Browne's Bill is largely aspirational. It has much merit. Ensuring there is parity between our physical and mental health is very important, but the reality is very different. Other Deputies have stated that 6% of our health budget is spent on mental health services but largely in Europe the expenditure on this sector is approximately 12%. Where there is a lack of funding, one finds a shortage of staff and that people fall through the cracks.

I want to bring to the attention of the Minister and Members an article reported in the newspapers at the weekend, which I found extraordinary. The clinical director of the Central Mental Hospital stated that 26 ill patients are currently in prison and cannot get into the Central Mental Hospital. He stated that is completely detrimental to their mental health. They are a danger to themselves and to other people. He further stated that, under the laws of the land, he is almost in contempt of court for not meeting his obligations as the clinical director of the hospital. Unfortunately, it gets worst. There is capacity for ten extra patients in the Central Mental Hospital but it cannot fill vacancies due to the shortage of psychiatric nurses. That facility has cost a great deal of money but it cannot get staff. That is the crux of the issue. Retaining and recruiting staff, particularly psychiatric nurses, is extremely difficult. Psychiatric nurses are demoralised in some ways because of the state of the health service and they are feeling the pinch. It is extremely important to address the issue of the retention of staff.

I am to blame at times for lambasting our mental health services. There are some extremely positive aspects in terms of the staff in those services and the voluntary bodies in the State but when we look deep down there are serious anomalies in the services. Last week's RTÉ programme "The Big Picture", which showed how young people are being failed by the State, would break one's heart. That failure is the result of austerity and lack of funding of our mental health services by successive Governments. We have seen the State fail people when they have sought services. The services fail them, they fall through the cracks and some people die because of that disgraceful situation. There is a shortage of staff.

Another issue, which many speakers have raised, is our child and adolescent mental health services, CAHMS, which is in crisis. I am a member of the Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Healthcare. What it has found is damming of our health service. It found chronic staff shortages with staffing levels as low as 47.5% of what was recommended in some regions. The child and adolescent mental health services have only 56% of the number of staff who were meant to be employed. It is pretty bad. The social damage that does is incalculable and people die because of a lack of services.

A Vision of Change, which I believe was introduced in 2007, was a very good document but like all documents that come into this House it never gets implemented. A Vision of Change is quite conservative regarding what the funding should be. It is 8.6% in the State but in line with European levels it should be double that. Until we tackle the chronic underfunding, particularly of our mental health services, we will have a constant crisis in our mental health services. I welcome the debate on this issue but until the Government tackles the danger posed by the lack of funding of our mental health services, we will continue to have this debate and people will continue to die.

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