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

I am glad to have the opportunity to welcome this Bill which gives patients the entitlement to a review by a tribunal to satisfy whether they should be released. It is very welcome. I have to talk about suicide because it is a demon which has affected many families. Everyone talks about their own place. In Kerry, we have had too much of it. Teenagers have pressures in schools and colleges, then people fear becoming homeless and have financial worries and family problems. There are many different pressures which cause mental illness. It is hard for us to understand someone who has a mental illness. It is a real problem. The problem in our county is that we do not have a 24 hour service. If someone presents at the weekend, as they often do in emergency departments, there is no real help for them.

I remember getting a call a few months ago from a family on a Friday evening. Their brother was told that he was going home and there was no place for him. I will not say which hospital. Families recognise when a member of the family is in trouble. This family had lost another family member and knew that they were in bother with this person. Gladly, he was kept there after an intervention and that boy is perfect. That did not happen for others and there are family members who are very sore and hurt about it.

We do not have enough services. Many of these youngsters - they are youngsters, by and large - need one-to-one care. Families are tied up. They have other commitments, children of their own and other matters. We do not have the services to prevent many of the suicides that I believe could have been prevented. I appeal to the Minister of State because this affects vulnerable people. My uncle used to say that there is only the breadth of a nail between being dead and alive. It is a defining moment when someone commits suicide, with all that it brings with it, with so much hurt and loss for a family, and stigma too. We have to do more for people with mental illnesses.

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