Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Following on from a number of contributions I and other colleagues, including Senator Gilroy, made this week and over the past 12 to 24 months on the state of adult mental health services, Senators will know that the 2013 annual report on mental health, disability and special needs was published earlier this week and it directly contradicts what the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, has been saying in the Seanad and in the Dáil. It is a very damning report and shows that the majority of the facilities are understaffed. Only 60% of facilities meet guidelines for individual patient care. This has been consistently raised in the House, so it should not come as a surprise to the Minister of State. I have raised specific issues with her on the Adjournment, including Curam in north County Dublin, as have other Senators.

However, the Minister of State continues to simply hide behind reports and all she does when she comes into the House is give a good account of herself in so far as saying she has a personal commitment but any of the advances made under A Vision for Change in this area are being eroded daily by her inaction and incompetence in this area. Due to the economic difficulties and so on over the past five or six years, mental health and the health of our nation are crucially important but they are not getting the support they require.

Nine consultant psychiatrists wrote to the Minister of State 14 months ago but they did not even get a response from her. Why has she not even responded to experts in this area who wrote to her formally, as their line Minister, 14 months ago? Since she has not bothered to respond to them, they have withdrawn their support from the clinical management system. I know from talking to consultant psychiatrists in the areas with which I am familiar in Dublin that they have been pushed to the pin of their collar. They cannot operate, there is no management structure, there is little or no interaction with the HSE and there is zero interaction with the line Minister. This situation cannot be allowed to continue.

I would like the Minister of State to come to the House to tell us the truth as to what she is doing once and for all. She has done nothing and has made the situation worse. She will come into the House and tell us she is personally committed to this. She will be sympathetic and empathetic. That is absolutely great but it does not resolve the situation. I would like her to come into the House to tell me five things she has actually done and the number of visits she has carried out in the past three years since she took over this portfolio.

To assist her in this regard, I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, come to the House today to make a statement on the current situation in regard to mental health services and respond to the claims made and the facts laid down in the annual report of 2013, which show that most of the facilities in the country are understaffed and the majority do not meet individual patient care guidelines set down by her Department.