Mark Dearey (Green Party)

I support Senator Corrigan's call for a debate on the decision to move people who need psychiatric care from residential hostels back into psychiatric institutions. The Leader will appreciate that the HSE has been tasked with saving money. While it is important that it should do so, it should not be done on the basis of rolling back progressive policy. That is what is happening in this case, however. If the decision to return to psychiatric hospitals those who have been removed from them in recent years is upheld, A Vision for Change will have been shelved, in effect. I am aware of a specific case in which this is about to happen because of a health and safety issue in a hostel. I acknowledge that the issue in question is a real one. We should not address such issues by moving people back into hostels. We must object to this in the strongest possible terms because this is about the policy which has been agreed. We must insist that the HSE adhere to it. I acknowledge, however, that it must find the necessary savings.