John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I offer my sincere sympathies to all the families who lost loved ones in the Tunisian massacre and in particular to the families of Lorna Carty in Meath and Larry and Martina Hayes in Athlone. Martina hailed from Kiltoom in County Roscommon and was a namesake of my own having the maiden name of Kelly. I cannot imagine what the families are going through.

On a separate note, I raise the issue that people are always very critical of politicians. Sometimes they say that politics does not work yet when they have a problem, it is to politicians they come. Sometimes, we are in a position to solve problems and sometimes we are not. We had a serious issue in my county over the last number of months where the HSE was proposing to close a psychiatric unit that was home to 23 psychiatric patients. I took a particular stance on that issue and said I would not stand for it or allow it to happen. Many of my Oireachtas colleagues felt similarly about the issue. Following a meeting with the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, last night, I confirm that the unit will not close. The patients will be left there for the rest of their lives. I was encouraged at the meeting when the HSE put its hands up and said the way it tried to do its business in this case by clinically assessing patients without family involvement was something for which it apologised. For many years, I have had an issue with the way the word "consultation" is built into everything we do in this country. We have consultation when it comes to windfarm developments, but unfortunately consultation appears merely to be a matter of saying "We are just telling you what we are doing and not listening to one word of what you are saying". It is the same with pylons. The consultation involves a statement to the effect that "This is where we are putting them. We are listening to you, but not acting on what you are saying". We had consultation when it came to the patients of the Rosalie unit in Castlerea where every one of them was consulted. Every one of them told the HSE that they did not want to leave, but the HSE still planned to move them out. All I can say is that thanks in particular to my own stance on this issue, it proves that politics can work. I am pleased about that.