Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important issue. As others have said, services were strained before Covid ever arrived on our shores, but the onset of Covid has had an enormous impact. We have no way of assessing its damage because people are cocooned or unable to access medical centres, which have great pressure on them. Tipperary is particularly challenged, as the Minister of State will be aware. I thank her for coming to visit us. There is a dearth of mental health beds there. The implementation of A Vision for Change destroyed our services. It took away our acute day hospital. We were promised a Rolls-Royce community service but, sadly, that never materialised. It is the same up and down the country and applied to many services but mental health services are acutely affected. In north Tipperary, people must travel to Ennis and in south Tipperary, which is a huge area, they must travel to Kilkenny. They do not want us in Kilkenny; it is nothing personal about matches or games, they are full from the south-eastern region itself, and have no space. The Minister of State also paid a visit there. She told us at a meeting that there was a lot of capacity in Kilkenny but that is not our experience. People cannot access it and it is costing a fortune in transport services and the delayed time of consultants driving to Kilkenny is farcical. The previous Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, acknowledged in the House and at meetings with the HSE and the Department of Health that Tipperary had a deficit of 15 beds which we were working to close. I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, well - we are good friends and represent neighbouring constituencies and work on issues together - but I am devastated to hear that the HSE has moved away from that position. I note she was successful in having beds put into Waterford recently. They were badly needed there and there have been different reports on this point in the past but we need beds in Tipperary, full stop. We need access to interventions in order that when people have acute episodes, they do not have to go to emergency departments, which are packed and unsuitable. It is the same in any part of the country. There have to be dedicated areas for people to go when they are unwell, not something like a crowded ward. I will keep the pressure on. The beds and staff must be delivered, together with proper community services, to Tipperary, including south Tipperary.

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