Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A Programme for a Partnership Government reads: "For those vulnerable to suicidal behaviour, the HSE Mental Health Directorate should provide a co-ordinated, uniform, quality assured and safe 24/7 service and deliver pathways of care". It goes on, but the line I wish to discuss reads: "This will be monitored and recommendations will be made by the appropriate Oireachtas Committee." This is my fifth time raising in the Chamber the issue of the Joint Committee on Future of Mental Health Care. I learned from a Commencement matter last week in the Seanad in the name of Senator Devine that the Government had decided the committee would not sit any further. The first page of the committee's interim report reads: "Based on these initial briefing sessions, the Joint Committee has already formed the view that it is necessary that a permanent Mental Health Oireachtas Committee be established in order to have ongoing accountability". I am seeking clarity. We are in a crisis. Maybe Members of the Oireachtas are privileged in certain areas and can afford health insurance or private health care, but we are facing a major crisis in the mental health services. The joint committee was a very strong one that held people to account and got information. I call on the Government to re-establish it and ensure accountability in the mental health services.

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