Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I imagine everybody in here to speak on this has dealt with those who have not been able to avail of mental health supports on the basis of addiction to alcohol or drugs, or both. We are talking about incredibly complex cases. I would welcome the tenor of what the Minister of State is saying, but we are dealing with too many cases where there has been an inability to provide people with the service they require for ongoing addiction, as I mentioned, but especially psychosis. An awful lot of these cases get funnelled through accident and emergency and end up creating a huge number of issues there. That is no place to deal with them from a harm reduction or even a care point of view.

It is commendable and correct for Deputy Clarke to look to have dual diagnosis nailed into this legislation on the basis we are all constantly being given this as the reason those who need care are not getting care. It is something that needs to be addressed in a holistic way. I get that legislation is not going to sort this, but in legislation we try to ensure we have a framework that will deliver the service and at this point in time people are not getting the service.

We have all known, and Deputy McAuliffe spoke about it, people who have been refused the care they need. In some cases, we have dealt with tragic circumstances and in others we have been very lucky. If you speak to those in mental health services or those dealing with cases in accident and emergency regularly, this is a real problem. There is even the means by which assessments are made. I could talk about Dundalk, and I am aware the Minister of State met recently the Maxi’s law group. In that particular case, there is an issue with assessments not being done in accident and emergency and people being referred to Crosslanes. The problem with Crosslanes is that it is a fully operational mental health facility and, therefore, assessments are only done when a doctor is available.

I am digressing from the legislation but it is not the first time I have done that in here. I support Deputy Clarke’s amendment on the basis we really need to deal with the issue that is out there at the minute. People are being failed and are unable to get the service they require and it is impacting on the health service across the board, so it is something we need to see movement on.

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