Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is a mental health and suicidal crisis in Wexford. Everyone does not present with suicidal ideation, and it is not always possible to identify signs that someone might be suicidal, but there seems to be an incredible lack of an emergency response to those who do so.

Kenneth Rowe took his own life just over one year ago at the age of 32. Before Christmas, I read a letter from Kenneth's sister in this Chamber and I shall repeat one line from it:

Imagine our despair that in spite of an urgent referral from Waterford to Summerhill Community Mental Health Services, [Wexford] Kenneth’s appointment was for six weeks later. The wait was impossible ... Kenneth fought so hard to stay alive for everyone and everything he loved. But he didn’t make it. He ended his life 19 days before his appointment at Summerhill.

I have spoken to the parents of a number of children who have presented with suicidal ideation and who have had to wait for more than two and half years to get the supports they have needed from the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. Dr. Kieran Moore resigned from his position as consultant child psychiatrist almost one year ago and we still do not have a replacement. Anne O 'Connor, the national director of mental health services in the HSE said in 2017 that CAMHS had become a catch-all service in the absence of other services. It was never designed to be a catch-all service but to cater for children and adolescents with severe and enduring mental health illnesses. Children who do not need to be are funnelled into CAMHS because alternatives are not there. Anne O'Connor said that young people should be able to go to their GPs in order to get access to a primary care-based psychology or family counselling service. The waiting time for primary care child psychology services in Wexford is more than three years. This is despite the fact that four newly created assistant psychologist positions were filled in the last year in Wexford. A three-year wait is hardly good enough.

In its final report, the Joint Committee on Future of Mental Health Care expressed serious concerns at "the lack of accessible counselling services and [that] the money spent by the State on the services is insufficient, as compared to expenditure on psychotropic medication." The report also states, "Evidence also supports that there is an over reliance on medication as a response to preventing 'mental ill health' issues in the absence of alternatives in primary, community care levels." The Ombudsman for Children informed the committee that children have identified a rush to medicate in their treatment, which is incredible.

The lack of adequate community and primary care mental health services in Wexford is a serious problem. The pace of change is painfully slow. It is too slow for some. Kenneth Rowe was one of those. I realise that suicide figures nationally are down but they are still incredibly high in Wexford and it is one of the most concerning issues in the county. Do we need more resources? Do we need a different approach? I know it is not easy but I put it to the Taoiseach that whatever it is we are doing, it does not seem to be good enough.

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