Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Families and service users in Clondalkin, Lucan and the surrounding areas have received some very bad news in recent weeks. One such piece of news concerns the potential moving of the HSE's adult community mental health team from Clondalkin to Tallaght due to difficulties with the current premises, and the second is the proposal to merge the young persons' mental health support service, Jigsaw, which would result in the loss of that service to its current base of north Clondalkin. It is proposed that the service move to Tallaght.

The Clondalkin drug and alcohol task force has written to all of the Deputies in the constituency to raise several concerns. In terms of the adult mental health team, it has said:

The removal of front line services, even on a temporary basis, to a location outside of the community will increase the barriers for those already faced with adversity to access services. As it stands, the taskforce says, the community mental health team are already under-resourced and work with the most hard to reach service user group who require ongoing support to address their mental health needs.

On Jigsaw, the task force has said: "The removal of services in an area where there are significant issues in terms of mental health for young people and adults, which is supported by research from the National Suicide Research Foundation and the National Office of Suicide Prevention, would have catastrophic implications for the community." The task force is urging the Minister of State to work with the four local Deputies in the first instance to ensure that neither of these services are lost to the local community and that Jigsaw retains a permanent base in north Clondalkin to provide the services for the surrounding areas. North Clondalkin in particular, because of a range of factors, has a significantly higher level of suicide and mental health issues for younger people than many other parts of the country. Jigsaw is one of the most wonderful services imaginable. I am sure the Minister of State has been in Jigsaw services in other locations. It is accessible to young people in the local area and has built up a reputation of trust and confidentiality. People can just walk in. They do not have to be referred by a GP or other formal services. In fact, even Deputies and members of the community can make referrals. There is a strong view among people working in mental health services and in the local community that the loss of these two crucial adult and young person facilities will not just mean a loss of services but could also result in the loss of lives due to the inability of people to access crucial mental health supports.

In the first instance I am urging the Minister of State to outline what his Department can do to ensure that these services are not lost to Tallaght. I also ask him to meet a cross-party delegation of the Deputies from the constituency to help ensure that, into 2019 and 2020, both services remain in the local community where they are needed and where they belong.

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