Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Táim ag díriú isteach inniu ag leibhéal Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí ar chúrsaí meabhairshláinte, mar atá déanta agam le breis agus ceithre bliana anuas. Tagraím go háirithe don bhearna atá ann ó thaobh easpa córas monatóireachta neamhspleách san earnáil seo. I could read out the question I raised in December 2019 and all other questions I have raised at the level of Taoiseach on mental health and the absence of services. I have a specific question today and we could save a lot of time if the Taoiseach could just answer it. It is on the urgent need for an independent monitoring body to implement what was A Vision for Change and is now Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Service for Everyone. If the Taoiseach tells me he is taking this seriously and urgently, gives me a date for its implementation and assures me there will be a broad range of therapists and therapies represented on it, I will thank him and look forward to working with him.

In 1984, the document, Planning for the Future, confirmed our mental health services were not fit for purpose. It showed the way forward. It took until 2006 to get another document, which was A Vision for Change. It is a wonderful document and there is no need to change it, only to update it, as we have had done. Theoretically, it ran out in January 2016. Then we had a review of the literature, which took a few weeks and then months to publish. Then it took another four years of pressure from me and other Deputies from all parties to ask for the publication of the new document, which is Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Service for Everyone. During all this time, the mental health service is absolutely creaking at the seams.

In Galway over the past few days, at an informal social gathering, I became aware of three suicides in a very short period involving people aged between 15 to 70. We know that hospitals have stopped gathering data on suicides and we have no up-to-date figures. We also know that, in a very short period, 17% of patients admitted to national spinal injuries unit at the Mater hospital had injuries associated with attempted suicide and there are many other anecdotes and stories. At this point, I do not wish to go into any of them. For four and a half years we have had statements on mental health. I do not want any more statements. Nobody in the psychology or psychiatric fields trusts any Government. They do not trust any politician, including myself, and I accept that. This is why there is a need for an independent monitoring body. To show the Taoiseach's bona fides, let us stop the talking and the statements and confirm that will be set up as a matter of urgency before the end of August?

See this speech in context