Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand that a multiagency approach is required. We need to bring all of the services together in order to deal with this. However, when I speak to gardaí on the beat they tell me that if they took mental health issues and drug addiction issues out of the equation, almost one third of their work would be gone. That reflects the level of time and resources tied up in this area.

As I said, most of this happens because people do not get the early intervention they require. Many people go into psychiatric services for a short period of time and are then released back into the community. They go home and perhaps have a mental health nurse calling once a week. That is not enough. The level of services and the interaction between gardaí and the entire process is something that has to be taken care of. We also know that many people in our prison system are there because of mental health issues that were not dealt with early enough. That is how people end up in the prison system, which is not a good place to try to deal with those types of issues.

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