Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am very disappointed the Minister for Health is not here. This is the second time today that he has abandoned the Chamber for the later speaking slots. It is no disrespect to the Minister of State and I thank her for coming to Clonmel to see the mental health issues there.

The youth mental health charity, Jigsaw, saw an increase of 50% in demand for its service in August compared to last year. There has been a more than 400% increase in traffic to its online mental health platform over the past six months. Inclusion Ireland, which represents people with intellectual disabilities, has stated day services are running at a rate of 50% of what they were prior to Covid-19. Many people cannot access these services due to transport limitations. This is chronic. It is now crystal clear that mental health needs must be treated as a core element of the response and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. It is so unfair on these people. It is all about Covid and all about instilling fear. I said this earlier. The figures need to be explained and the true figures need to be explained. I will not repeat what I said earlier. I ask the Minister of State to insist the figures for self-harm and mental health are collated. The agency stopped collating them in April. We need to know. Why hide them?

The Minister of State's saw St. Michael's unit in Clonmel. Unfortunately, officials have decided not to give us our beds. Since it was closed eight years ago it has been a disaster. We have had more issues and mental health problems. A Vision for Change did not deliver the community response. We need beds in Clonmel. The Department is able to find €700,000 or €800,000 for more beds for Covid. Mention the word "Covid" and money is like confetti or dust falling from the sky. There is no problem. However, the Government cannot look after people's mental health. It is shameful in the extreme. When there are inquiries into this in ten or 15 years' time the fear that the Government, RTÉ and the whole cabal are instilling will be exposed nakedly for what it is with no research. A doctor was sacked last week for speaking out. Dolores Cahill will not be listened to. All those with a contrarian view are all unpatriotic. We are all loony bins. The genie is out of the bottle. Today I quoted figures from Denmark, Hungary and other places. They show they have far fewer issues than we have. They have more borders but our wonderful HSE, which was dysfunctional before this started, is even more dysfunctional now and it is shameful.

St. Bridget's Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir, a wonderful day hospital, which the Minister of State has passed many times, had four hospice beds paid for in the main through fundraising by the people of south Tipperary, west Waterford - the Minister of State's area - and south Kilkenny. It is closed and has been taken off the people because Covid is more important and to hell with the people who need palliative care. They are dying in their homes and they cannot get treatment. It is a shocking indictment of how we have gone down the road like a runaway train with Covid and to hell with cancer patients and stroke victims. One person an hour is dying of cancer and 27 a day are dying of strokes and heart conditions. There are also many other issues growing inside of people's bodies that they are unaware of because they cannot get tests. The Government will be brought to The Hague for war crimes when it is all over because of the abandonment of the people and it is shameful the way they have been treated.

See this speech in context