Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very happy to put on the record today that some of those who are helping and interacting with people who need their assistance and help are doing a fine job. I know of a number of cases personally where the patients concerned are extremely happy and in many cases their lives have taken a new road or twist and many of them have come out of the deep depression they were in. The loss of staff like this is obviously going to affect them.

Going back to the external report and review from September 2017, which I said was damning, there were 27 recommendations in that. I am not going to fire the question willy-nilly at the Minister now, but I would ask him to check on that again to make sure those 27 recommendations are implemented as quickly as possible. A number of them have been implemented but I understand that a number have not. While some of them will of course take longer than others, I ask the Minister to please ensure that those 27 recommendations are all put in place. The mental health services, as the Minister and the Minister for State are well aware, are crucial and so important to society nowadays.

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