Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

The Minister of State and I have had many debates over the years on mental health and dual diagnosis. The very first legislation I introduced here in 2021 was the Health (Amendment) (Dual Diagnosis: No Wrong Door) Bill. I introduced it because working in mental health and addiction services I saw the real need for that. I understand 100% why Deputy Clarke is looking to have this enshrined in the Bill because I fear if that is not done and this is not given the parity of esteem it needs, it could fall between the cracks. Vulnerable people who have addiction and substance misuse issues along with mental health issues often fall through the cracks.

When I was working in front-line services, I was working in an addiction service. Right across the road there was a mental health service. People were trying to access both services and were being sent away from the addiction services because staff in those services did not have the training and understanding of how to deal with mental health issues. People were going across to the mental health services and being told to go look after their addiction issue and then come back, so they were falling between the cracks. What often happens then is a community response takes place because the community has to evolve and respond to what is going on in that community. That is what happened there. The community responded by setting up a cross-departmental working group between the two services. It just evolved over time and it really works.

I have one question and the Minister of State might be able to come back to me on it. I am a bit concerned about her mentioning how this could be put in via secondary legislation. How long has this legislation taken to get to the Stage it is at? Secondary legislation could be another way of kicking this down the road. Dual diagnosis could be put on the long finger and not dealt with. Does she have a timeframe for that secondary legislation and when we would see anything like that implemented?

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