Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that recruitment is not something the Minister of State can control but perhaps if recruitment had started in June 2020 when the service was opened rather than seven months into 2021, we would not have much of an issue now. While I acknowledge that significant investment went into opening this facility in the first instance, funding did not carry through until earlier this year. I raised this repeatedly and only in July was it announced that funding would be put in place. It was only then that recruitment could begin when it should have begun in June 2020. I ask the Minister of State to give a commitment to me and to the people of Roscommon and further afield, who will rely on this crucial mental health service for young and older people, that we will not have to wait seven months for funding for the service. Will funding be continued into 2022? I ask her to provide a guarantee in this regard.

Online services are important but I understand that a number of screens were installed in Castlerea last week that require efibre. There is no efibre network connection to the building at the moment and I ask the Minister of State to look into that as well.

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