Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's reply. This issue has to do with the Mental Health Commission but it also has to do with the HSE. There have been reports about this in 2016, 2018 and 2020, as well as two reports in March 2021 making recommendations that were due to be completed in 2016. The HSE does not seem to have the accountability to stand over its own buildings. This goes back to the Owenacurra centre. The HSE is saying the building is not fit for purpose. I want all the Ministers and Ministers of State to hear this. The Mental Health Commission went there.

It is like the national car test, NCT. If a person fails something in an NCT, he or she goes to the garage, gets it fixed and then the car passes the test. The HSE has shown nothing short of total arrogance and ignorance when it comes to any Mental Health Commission report. It said in all those reports that the proprietor, which is the HSE, had ignored all the recommendations. Why are we now closing a mental health centre in Midleton in the middle of a pandemic?

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