Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Browne for introducing the Bill and for the opportunity to talk on the issue. The Deputy is right that we are not giving treatment to people who present with mental health issues comparable with the treatment given to people who present with physical or other health issues. I will talk about Kerry. To go back in time, there were 1,200 patients in St. Finan's mental institution. There were many people in there who should not have been there. There were people in there who needed treatment. We have gone from that figure down to very few in our county. Young people presenting with mental health issues are not able to get one-to-one treatment which they need 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I know of a family that lost its lovely 23 year old son. He told his parents that he had problems and issues. I will not say where he was taken but he did not get treatment and he is, sadly, no longer with us. His family is heartbroken. There is a vacant chair at the table and he will never sit in it again. He was very good. He told them all he had a problem but he did not get the help he needed. There are many other cases like that. We do not have enough to deal with them. It is a serious issue. There are only hours in it. Some people who were seen are fine. They are living and are with us today.

I thank Denis and Marie O'Carroll in Killarney who lost their son Nathan 11 years ago. They started the Darkness into Light walk every year. It has been done since then and we will be doing it again this year. I thank those in Pieta House for the help and work they do and the other people who volunteer around Killarney and Tralee and elsewhere around our county who are trying to help people who present with mental health issues. We need more assistance from the HSE. It needs to be recognised more by the Department of Health. What Deputy Browne is asking for should be acceded to.

Another issue is that when young fellows or young girls who were getting treatment or help from doctors have to leave the treatment because they turn 18, the do not get the continuity of service they received until they were 18. There is something wrong with this because they are still very young at 18 and 19 years of age and they should be getting the same treatment.

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