Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her constant advocacy for enhanced mental health services in Cavan-Monaghan. She is quite right; two SCAN nurses have gone into that area and are making a significant difference. I also want to change the narrative in really pushing youth mental health. It is a key priority of mine. I met with the new HSE CEO recently. Some 2% of the 1 million children in Ireland may need the support of child and adolescent mental health services but the remaining 98% also need supports. Jigsaw does an invaluable job. I met with Dr. Joseph Duffy and his team only two weeks ago to discuss future plans. I pointed out three specific areas where we do not have Jigsaw coverage: Cavan-Monaghan; Kildare and community healthcare organisation 5, which is the area where I live. Jigsaw has 67% physical coverage throughout the country but over the past few years, due to Covid, many of its supports moved online. I will work with Jigsaw and do my best to fund it. I will ask all the various Deputies to work with local authorities in their areas to seek whether we can identify premises. We will move to providing more Jigsaw services in specific areas.

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