Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Only three weeks ago, the Mental Health Commission report on the mental health unit at Bantry General Hospital instructed the closure of one quarter of its beds; a loss of seven beds in total. This would have been a devastating blow to mental services in west Cork that serve from Kinsale to Ardrum and parts of County Kerry.

The report by the Mental Health Commission recommended the closure of the beds following an inspection of the hospital. However, more astonishing is that the same issue of non-compliance was raised in 2019 and 2021 after an inspection and no funds were made available to carry out urgent works in this time.

The Taoiseach visited Bantry General Hospital on 29 August last. I for one will always welcome a leader of our country to such an outstanding hospital. However, senior people in the hospital asked me days before the Taoiseach came what the purpose of his visit was as the injury room he opened was nine years previous. I, like others, held out hope that on the day the Taoiseach came to unveil the plaque he would announce an exact date for work to start on the endoscopy and stroke units, two desperately needed upgraded services in Bantry. While the Taoiseach did say they will have to be built, he came and went without a date, leaving no hope to many people.

Fast-forward 15 days after his visit, when he promised extra services in Bantry General Hospital and we heard the announcement that one quarter of the mental health beds were to close in Bantry General Hospital, thus sending shock waves throughout west Cork. This decision is now being appealed by the HSE.

When the Taoiseach visited Bantry General Hospital on 29 August last, did he visit the mental health unit in the hospital grounds? I am sure he did not. Worse again, when the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy Butler, visited Bantry General Hospital on 10 July with the Fianna Fáil circus, did she visit the mental health unit in Bantry General Hospital? If both the Taoiseach and Minister of State did not, all I have to say is shame on them for turning their backs on the mental health unit. Questions are being asked. Did the Taoiseach already know that the mental health unit in Bantry General Hospital was in trouble? If he did not know it, surely, the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health should have some idea of what is going and should, at the very least, have called in to speak to the incredible staff who do Trojan work in the unit. I will read a quote from the Minister of State, who said during her visit to the medical side of Bantry General Hospital that:

We often hear of the apparent downgrading of ... [Bantry] hospital and headlines about how the HSE want to close it. Judging by this visit, ... [this] could ... [not] be further from the truth.

Fast-forward eight weeks from her visit and we almost had the destruction of the mental health unit under her watch due to the incompetence of many.

The Taoiseach has been made aware of the crisis in the mental health unit at Bantry General Hospital over the past few weeks in the Dáil. He had the chance to find out what went wrong and what will now be done to deliver for the many people of west Cork who genuinely suffer mental health issues. During the formation of this Government, I, along with my Rural Independent colleagues, sat around the table with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, and Green Party leader, Deputy Ryan. I asked for two things only. I made it clear that I wanted two things for west Cork. One was a ministry for fisheries, which the Taoiseach failed to deliver, and we saw where that got us. The other was a cast-iron guarantee that Bantry General Hospital would never be downgraded under the terms of this Government. The time has come and we have now seen this has not been delivered. Will the Taoiseach give the people of west Cork a cast-iron guarantee in the Dáil today that this Government will give adequate funding to the HSE to retain all 18 beds in the mental health unit in Bantry General Hospital?

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