Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

Along with my two colleagues, Deputies Mattie McGrath and Cahill, I attended a powerful but heartbreaking public meeting last Thursday night in Clonmel, which called for the reopening of closed beds at St. Michael's unit in the town. It was shocking to hear many contributors say they were satisfied that their loved ones would be alive today if those beds had been open.

The closure of the acute psychiatric unit in St. Michael's in Clonmel in 2012 was wrong and should never have happened. It has turned out to be an absolute disaster, as we warned at the time. The closure was announced without any consultation by the HSE. It was opposed by service users, families, carers, medical consultants, GPs, psychiatric nurses, public representatives and the public. Everybody opposed it because it was wrong, but the then Minister, former Deputy Kathleen Lynch, declared that the closure was written in blood and bulldozed it through. Mental health services in Tipperary, despite the best efforts of the staff, are substandard and not fit for purpose.

I appeal to the Minister of State to approve the reopening of acute psychiatric beds in Clonmel.

See this speech in context