Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate her response, but it seems that we do not have a cast-iron guarantee about when the unit will launch. She will excuse me for having concerns about the date of quarter 4 of 2024, because we have been told different dates on numerous occasions, but we will wait.

I do understand that progress has been made. For the first time, there are definite numbers and figures. There were meetings yesterday in Limerick, as the Minister of State has said. I have been speaking with the HSE, An Garda Síochána and the National Ambulance Service about this issue for a number of years.

Four years since it was announced, it is yet to be delivered. Much of the patience and space that have been afforded to the requisite Ministers and State agencies to allow for the training and launch of this unit have really run out. Yet, we need to get this right. Will it be launched before the end of the government cycle of quarter 4 of 2024? I doubt it.

When it comes to Limerick city, which is a city with three Government Deputies, there has never been any urgency. That is also demonstrated by the fact that there is nobody from Department of Health present here tonight, although that is no disrespect to the Minister of State. The people in Moyross campaigned for a decade to have the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road constructed, but it is yet to be completed. The people of Limerick voted in 2019 to have a directly elected mayor, but it took the Government five years to finalise the legislation. Those of us from Limerick have had years of waiting for improvements in capacity at UHL but rather than tackling that issue, it was allowed to worsen and worsen with trolley numbers rising every single year. Last year, for instance, more than 21,000 people were treated on trolleys, which was the highest number ever recorded in any hospital. That was an increase from 18,000 in 2022, and this year there will unfortunately be more than that. It will probably be 24,000, going by the figures we have at the moment. Why does the Government fail to deliver for Limerick? Why do the people of Limerick always have to fight, campaign and lobby to receive what has been previously committed to? I ask myself if the Limerick Deputies from the Government parties ever question this.

There remain extraordinary pressures on mental health services, services that have suffered from years of underinvestment, particularly in Limerick. Mental health services were under pressure before the pandemic, but the mental impact of that period, as I said earlier, has overwhelmed them.

Now more than ever, we need to assist those with mental health needs. I refer to the issue of delay again. Why has this unit not been launched yet? When will it be launched? How many people will be trained to operate in it? What are the stumbling blocks? What do we need to do to get movement on it?

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