Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The position on mental health services in Tipperary is very serious. It was serious all along prior to Covid.

I wish the new Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, the very best. Hers is a very good appointment. I look forward to engaging with and working with her. She has agreed to a request from Deputy Cahill and me to visit Clonmel.

There is not one single long-stay mental health bed in Tipperary. A Vision for Change was a disaster. We lost our wonderful St. Michael's unit, which many used for decades. It was closed. The last Minister of State responsible for mental health, Mr. Jim Daly, acknowledged it was a mistake. He admitted, and his officials now admit, that there is a deficit of 25 long-stay mental health beds in south Tipperary alone. Kilkenny just does not have room for us. It has to cover the whole south east.

I salute the volunteers in Clonmel and those who are picking up the slack, including those in Tipperary's Fight for Mental Health Services; Ms June Looby and all her team at River Suir Suicide Patrol; Fr. Michael Twomey, whom the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has agreed to meet; and Mr. Joe Leahy and all his team at C-Saw. There are volunteers doing the work and providing the supports that the services should be providing. This is not fair or right. Covid has put major pressure on people's mental health and lives. We need action. Words will not suffice any more. We need the beds.

We need our crisis house to be expanded; we are waiting for that also. We need specialist nurses to be appointed on a 24-7 basis at the accident and emergency department to assess patients who present with mental health difficulties and require admission. Many have been sent home and, sadly, many have died.

Outside Dublin, Tipperary has the highest rate of suicide owing to mental health issues. That is appalling at this time. Clonmel, unfortunately, has the highest rate in the county. It is just not acceptable. People are crying out for help. Volunteers and families are trying to support them but there are no services. People are being turned away. I encountered a case last weekend in which a person was sent around from Billy to Jack and could go nowhere. The individual was sent home again and she was threatening to self-harm. Her family was very upset and there was considerable disquiet. Therefore, we need the beds.

I acknowledge that A Vision for Change has been replaced. It is three years out of date. It gave us no change or hope in Tipperary. It was a failure. We need the beds. It is acknowledged by the former Minister of State, Mr. Jim Daly, and the HSE officials that there is a deficit of beds but we need them now. We could find €600,000 recently to do up St. Michael's because of Covid. The authorities refused point-blank to allow mental health patients back in or even to have a space there, or one room for those presenting at the adjacent St. Joseph's Hospital with a mental health crisis. Now the facility in St. Michael's is kitted out for Covid patients. I hope it will not have to be used for this purpose. We acknowledge the good work done in this regard but the facility must be kept open. It has been proven that where there is a will, there is a way. Money was found to open the facility for Covid. We must have the facility reopened for mental health patients. The 25 to 30 beds that were prepared, with en suiterooms, must be used to treat the people of Tipperary and west Waterford because they need the services. We must not have the terrible phenomenon of suicide. Too many lives have been lost.

See this speech in context