Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Feighan for his remarks on the strange goings on in the North. I would like to reassure the Senator there is legislation in place to deal with those UVF flags. This is a one-sided issue. I know this House likes to appear balanced and point to republicans doing the same. I lived on the Ormeau Road for 12 years and we lived under those UVF flags. Despite the legislation and the Parades Commission, many people were too terrified to take the flags down. I thank the Senator for bringing this up. The next few days will be important for the Assembly.

A mother named Laura was quoted in The Irish Times on Monday as saying that her ten-year old son wanted to be dead but that nobody would help him. I am again supporting and representing parents and children throughout this country and, in particular, this city who have been affected by the closure of the 11 beds in Linn Dara at Cherry Orchard Hospital. I will keep bringing this up until we have a resolution and those beds are reinstated. In my previous career, I constantly dealt with parents like Laura who were sleeping beside their teenage sons and daughters to keep them safe and stop them from committing suicide. I have also dealt with parents left distraught following the suicide of their children, children as young as nine years of age in some cases. I do not know what to say to those parents. I know of the grief they experience and I have a response. However, when I tell parents to find the services, the services are not there. They expect help to them move towards a brighter future, but the reality is different. The figures as of today are that we have 2,500 children and young people with mental health disorders on the waiting list for child and adolescent services. Of those on the waiting list, 1,167 have been waiting for three months, 500 have been waiting six months and over 240 have been waiting for more than a year. These are our children in distress and this is not good enough.

Will the Leader ask our new Minister of State with responsibility for mental health to explain the nursing and midwifery-funded workforce plan? This is a legal provision allowing the Minister to issue a direction with which the HSE has to comply. I ask the Minister to issue a direction to reopen the beds in Linn Dara straight away.