Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, for taking this matter but I had hoped the Minister, Deputy Zappone, would be here to address the urgent need for a family resource centre in Erris, north Mayo. I welcome the recently announced additional family resource centre provision but, unfortunately, there is no provision for north Mayo. I have not intervened on this matter up to now because I was sure the urgent need for a family resource centre in Erris would be recognised. I am not sure if the Minister of State has been to Erris but I am sure he has heard of Belmullet which has a population of almost 8,000 people. In terms of isolation and the difficulties around access to services, it is a 154 km round trip to the county town of Castlebar and a 124 km round trip to Ballina. The primary and secondary routes connecting to those towns are prone to flooding and in need of urgent upgrade. However, that is a matter for another Minister.

The recent Social Justice Ireland report shows an increase in poverty in rural areas. There is also a poverty of access to essential services. It is not feasible for support services, such as those provided by Tusla through the family resource centres, to travel to and from Erris to meet the needs of individuals and families. That Tusla and HSE staff have to spend half their days travelling to and from the main centres is not the best use of their time and not conducive to providing quality support services to individuals and families. The reality is that families and individuals are being deprived of the life-saving and life-changing supports and services available to people living in other areas.

A family resource centre located in Erris would facilitate an early intervention and prevention approach that would assist in preventing cases escalating to the social work teams and mental health teams that are already overstretched. Following on from the closure of community development projects in 2015, there is an even more severe gap in services for the Erris community. Over the 13 year timeframe that the CDP was in existence, along with the one-to-one supports provided by it initiatives such as whole community responses to bullying, domestic violence, poor mental health, isolation and many other key issues, were developed. It also acted as a facilitator and an anchor for parenting programmes, community participation in primary care and other anti-poverty and social inclusion initiatives. The combination of family support services and community development that could be provided by a family resource centre would tackle disadvantage and address the inequalities that are preventing people from living full, healthy and self-determined lives.

Erris is a wonderful area in which to live or to visit. The deprivation statistics included in the application for a family resource centre in Erris speak to the underlying severe disadvantage when it comes to accessing services, unemployment levels, the level of lone parents and the number of people living in isolation.It speaks to all of those things. Young people with acute mental health difficulties must still travel to north Mayo CAMHS which is based in Ballina. If a young person recovering from a bereavement or something traumatic needs the support of CAMHS and other services, it is not feasible to take him or her out of school for a whole day to access those services. That is why I ask the Minister of State to reconsider the family resource centres and to put one into the Erris area as a matter of urgency. I would not ask if it were not desperately needed. I ask on behalf of the families and individuals.