Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I am glad to have this opportunity to speak on World Mental Health Day. Like previous speakers, I thank and commend all those who work in mental health services, for both the State or the organisations that do absolutely necessary work.

I was very taken by what Deputy Roche said. It obviously came from the heart. Unfortunately, it is the worst aspect of the detrimental impact mental health difficulties can have on lives and families and the real anguish involved. We all may have dealt with some of this in our families, but, fortunately, not in quite the same way as Deputy Roche and his family. My heart goes out to all those involved.

While we will never have a perfect system. We will have arguments about resources and particular cases. We need to find a better framework. I was very taken by what Deputy Roche said in the context of it all being about pathways. The problem is with systems we set up in this State in many cases. We sometimes talk about integrated systems and there being no wrong door, but we constantly build silos, circumstances and imperfect access pathways. Whether we are talking about CAMHS, community services or departments of psychiatry such as that in Crosslanes, Drogheda, it is all imperfect. We have all had many people come to us who cannot access services and some who come to talk about family members who do not want to access services. The latter do not realise the anguish they are causing. Deputy Martin Kenny spoke about a brutal case, and we have to look into cases like that from a point of view of making sure we do everything possible to mitigate or avoid the impact. Those are the worst of circumstances.

We also understand the world we live in, the issue of drugs and how there is sometimes an overlap with mental health services. We are constantly told about people who cannot access services when they are in psychosis because of underlying addictions. We need to find a means to deal with these sets of circumstances. The Minister of State has dealt with issues such as ensuring the likes of SOSAD has funding. She met Maxi's Law campaign, which is about ensuring we can offer equality in mental health services. We have issues in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda regarding access to services.

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