Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle, for allowing time for this vital debate. I will provide some context. I was here, or nearly here, when A Vision for Change was introduced. I had many a battle with the then Minister of State, John Moloney, when he introduced it. We had a vision but that is all we had. There was no funding, no jobs and nothing was put in place. It is the 13th anniversary this year of that ten-year plan. That sums it all up.

I have nothing personal against the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly. Deputy Neville is also present. I compliment his father on all the years he spoke about it when it was not popular to talk about mental health. He was a champion in that regard. We all have a duty to pony up and deal with the issue. There is an epidemic of suicide. CAMHS in Tipperary has a waiting list of three to four years. Adolescents are going into the paediatric ward in Clonmel. In fairness to the Minister of State, he helped me as best he could when I discussed a case with him. They were there for between seven and ten weeks waiting to go to the centre in Cork, which has difficulties with capacity. I refer to troubled adolescents who were in the wrong environment and they did not need to be in a paediatric ward but in a special place where they could have someone to talk to. There is a lack of psychologists and psychiatrists. A Vision for Change did not provide one bed in Tipperary. That is what it did for us. It made sure that everyone was sent to Kilkenny, but Kilkenny does not want our patients because the hospital there is overrun with its own patients. Deputy Aylward tells us that every day of the week. That is no disrespect to the people in Kilkenny. People have to travel there in taxis because no bus service is provided. There are significant cracks in the system. It is all a big crack.

Four times as many people are dying from suicide as from road deaths. I do not want any road deaths. There was an horrific incident last weekend. We are putting significant energy and effort into road safety at the moment but I think it is over the top, OTT. Some of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, advertisements on television at the moment are nothing short of a disgrace. They are having a mental health impact on young people. The advertisement that is on the television should not be shown. I have written to the director general, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Taoiseach. It should not be shown because it is impacting on young people's health. Unfortunately, tragedies happen, but four times the number of people die by suicide.

I was at a funeral on Tuesday evening of a friend of mine who was failed by the system in Kilkenny. It was a Tipperary patient who was not looked after. There was another case in Cork of a very troubled woman whose grandfather was a Member of this House. It is so sad. I had a call this morning about a 75 year old man who was a friend of mine. We all get such calls every day of the week. There is an epidemic and we are not dealing with it. The HSE is not fit for purpose to deal with the situation. We talk about A Vision for Change and the ten-year plan, but here we are on its 13th anniversary and we have no plan and we have lost our vision. We will need to get the cataract bus to make sure we have some kind of vision to see what we are doing or where we are going.

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