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

In the first case of its kind, the HSE pleaded guilty in Kilkenny District Court to two charges relating to the physical conditions in the department of psychiatry of St. Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny and to two charges relating to not having a consultant psychiatrist sign patient seclusion orders within 24 hours of the seclusion taking place, as required by law. Judge Brian O'Shea fined the HSE and said:

For too long in this country, mental health issues have been ignored and stigmatised. The testimony of the inspectors and photographs [taken during the inspection] are the physical manifestation of that lack of care. What makes this worse is that the facilities here are those that house the most vulnerable people. Those people matter and the environment in which they are cared for matters.

The chairman of the Mental Health Commission, Mr. John Saunders, stated: "As a regulatory body, it is entirely unacceptable to find conditions that you would have expected to find in a Victorian workhouse in a mental health service in Ireland in 2019."

I will not go into detail on the issues raised in the court case: I would not have enough time to do so. The details are absolutely shocking. It is now quite clear that the unit is not fit for purpose. Most of those who know and have worked in the unit are satisfied that this is the case. Staff have been involved in industrial relations continually to rectify the problem.

The mental health services crisis at St. Luke's in Kilkenny and in south Tipperary has been ongoing since it developed in 2012, when the then Government and former Labour Party Minister of State Kathleen Lynch closed the 50-bed inpatient psychiatry unit, St. Michael's, in South Tipperary General Hospital, Clonmel. The closure of that unit was opposed by everybody, including nurses, doctors, patients and the public. All advised against it and warned about the difficulties and dangers that would ensue. Unfortunately, we were not listened to, and now the unit is not fit for purpose and continuously overcrowded. Patients are admitted to sleep on couches and mattresses on the floor. South Tipperary patients admitted to the unit are delayed on an ongoing basis and they suffer from inappropriate early discharge. There are also transport difficulties. I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, on this issue. He has accepted that the decision to close St. Michael's unit was wrong. We are working with him in the hope of having the unit reopened.

This is the straw that breaks the camel's back. We want to know sooner rather than later, and hopefully from the Tánaiste today, that the Government will agree to and support the reopening of inpatient psychiatric beds at St. Michael's, Clonmel.

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