Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This just goes to show the interest the Government has in mental health and the people of Tipperary. It is an outrage. There are four Ministers of State and one Minister at the Department of Health and not one of them could be here to take this issue. Topical Issue matters are not selected easily and it is thanks to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle this has been selected. It beggars belief that the Government would send in the Minister of State with a script and fob us off. For a long time, I accepted the bona fides of the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, but they are quite useless now. Goodwill gestures and telling us he is interested are no good to us any more. He is doing nothing about the situation in Tipperary. We have not had one long-stay bed in Tipperary since the so-called A Vision for Change was ushered in by the former Minister of State, John Moloney, of Fianna Fáil. Then we had Kathleen Lynch and now it is three years out of date and we still have no places. It is just not funny any more.

Recently, I received a reply to a parliamentary question from the HSE's head of estates, Mr. Jim Curran, who confirmed to me that the new design for a proposed upgrade to the Grenville mental health crisis house in Clonmel is undergoing a review. This is not even happening because funding has yet to be confirmed under the HSE's capital plan for 2019. Are all the Ministers in hiding? We still do not have the 2019 HSE capital plan. The Ministers are hiding because they have made such a bags and unholy mess of the children's hospital that every other project is suffering as a result. This is confirmation of it. We badly need mental health support, crisis nurses and other staff to deal with people in Tipperary. Kilkenny is full to the brim. It cannot keep us there. The same is true for the people of north Tipperary who must go to Ennis or Limerick. This is a crisis of high proportions. Fr. Michael Twomey came here and met the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly. We had a committee in south Tipperary to save our hospital and now we are dealing with this also. There are groups such as C-saw, Taxi Watch and the River Suir Suicide Watch out night and day patrolling. There is an epidemic of drug dealing in Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Tipperary town and many other towns. Every town and village has a crisis with drugs and there is nobody to deal with it.

CAMHS, with regard to children trying to access it, is in utter disarray. Recently, I received two separate calls from parents whose children are attending CAMHS with severe social anxiety and other mental health issues. These children have been referred to the early intervention and disability services team for assessment of needs but the families have been told not to expect one for 12 to 18 months. Imagine this. The Minister of State should be ashamed to be part of a Government that deals with vulnerable people in this way. These children were due to start secondary school in September but they have no services. Even the fact they have received urgent referrals from CAMHS should be sufficient to ensure the children are seen but that is not sufficient. What do we have to do? We have countless suicides and a mental health epidemic but nothing is happening with the Government. Its members should be ashamed of their lives to send back replies when no Minister would come in to deal with it. They can run but they cannot hide, and they cannot hide from the people of Tipperary. This is a crisis epidemic and people are being left vulnerable and sadly short of services for their loved ones.

See this speech in context