Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here to reply to the debate. The area of mental health services has traditionally been neglected. That has been acknowledged over the last 20 years, particularly since the decongregation of the mental institutions. That was a good thing in itself but alternatives had to be put in place and were not put in place. They need to be put in place now as a matter of serious urgency. In particular, there is a need for access for children, adolescents and adults to emergency treatment and they must be able to access it easily and readily. It is not there at present and countless situations have developed whereby their families have had to try to provide facilities themselves.

The question of eating disorders among young girls has been mentioned already. It is a pressing situation which needs a response that will reach out to them now.

I refer to those who have addictions. There is no place for them to go and they will not be taken into a residential facility if they have an addiction and vice versa. There is an issue that needs to be dealt with as a matter of urgency and I hope that the Minister of State will be able to deal with that. I thank the Acting Chairman for facilitating me.

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