Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will pick up on the point regarding SOSAD. It provides such an important service in my county. It is very difficult to measure these things but the organisation is living up to its name and saving sons and daughters. It delivers tens of thousands of hours of counselling and support to thousands of people. In my own county, it delivered 4,500 counselling sessions in the past year, while it delivered 10,000 in the neighbouring county of Louth. I echo Deputy Ward's point about the invaluable service SOSAD provides. It was born out of a demand to fill a gap for the State. We cannot afford to lose it. I thank the Minister of State for agreeing to meet representatives of the organisation. As Deputy Ward said, it is important that representatives of the HSE be present at that meeting. We need to put this service on a sustainable footing.

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