Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Admhaím go bhfuil feachtas pearsanta á rith ag an Teachta maidir leis an gceist seo agus go bhfuil sí ag obair go dian dícheallach ar son daoine atá ag baint seirbhís síos ón tseirbhís sláinte. Aontaím leis an chuid is mó de céard atá ráite aici. Táim taobh thiar de straitéis na Roinne agus laistigh de sin, táim taobh thiar den phlean chun bord neamhspleách a chur i bhfeidhm chun scrúdú a dhéanamh ar pholasaithe agus dul chun cinn polasaithe Sharing the Vision.

A national implementation and monitoring body or commission should be established. The Mental Health Commission is such a body, which I established myself legislatively quite some time ago. It has always had an independent approach, which is the ideal approach to mental health services, but I take the Deputy's point that it is more on the side of regulating and monitoring existing services with regard to whether they are in conformity with the law. It seems to me that funding has not been an issue for mental health in recent years but the identification and recruitment of qualified personnel seems to have been an issue that has bedevilled the health service and that the health service has found very difficult to deal with in psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry in particular and dealing with young people.

In discussing this with regard to the programme for Government, we said we have to utilise the NGO and voluntary sectors in tandem and try to integrate them with the statutory services and, perhaps, develop a broader canvas in the utilisation of psychologists, therapists and multidisciplinary teams. My personal view is the more we can situate mental health services in the community, with access to local multidisciplinary teams, the more effective the outcomes will be.

A barometer of success is having less of a need for acute services. There will always be a need for acute services but if they are full or have high occupancy it is reflective of a dearth of resources and productivity in community care. This is the philosophy we should work towards and make sure there is wide provision. I will go back to the Minister for Health and come back to the Deputy on the establishment of a national independent body to oversee the implementation of Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone.

I have been monitoring this over the last two to three years in the context of the confidence and supply agreement in which we put a priority on mental health, but all we heard back from the health service was about an inability to recruit psychiatrists and personnel for the child and adolescent services and hence an ongoing lack of key personnel.

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