Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I too congratulate the Cathaoirleach on the address by President Zelenskyy today and thank him for his contribution on behalf of us in the Seanad. In highlighting the case of the mother and five-year-old daughter who have travelled to Ireland, he described the decisions we are making and the challenges we face. What is happening is all being done in the best interests of the citizens of Ukraine and giving them some sort of opportunity to have a life and a roof over their heads while they are here. As the Taoiseach said, this is their home for as long as they want to be here. That rang true today in all contributions.

After the Easter recess, I ask that we have a debate on mental health with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. It seems as though we go from one crisis to the next quite quickly without reflecting on the previous crisis. Over the past three years, as the Acting Leader knows, mental health has been very challenging and the demand on mental health services has dramatically increased on the back of Covid. Given the increasing numbers coming to Ireland from Ukraine, people will need services. There will be an influx of demand over the next period of time. It is important that we in the Chamber have a debate on how we manage that in terms of mental health. It has always been an area of the health service that we would all agree is underfunded. It is very hard to fund it to the extent that is needed, but the challenges in that regard will increase more and more as the months go on.

This is an issue in my country. We do not have any acute psychiatric beds in Tipperary. If someone in south Tipperary needs overnight care, he or she has to go to Kilkenny and those in north Tipperary have to go to Ennis. We used to have acute psychiatric beds in St. Michael's in Clonmel. There has been a lot of investment in health services in Tipperary. A 40-bed modular unit was opened by the Taoiseach a number of months ago. St. Michael's is being turned into a step-down unit, which is positive, but there has been no investment in long-term beds in Clonmel and Tipperary. We need the Minister to support Tipperary. It is not right and proper that people have to go as far as Kilkenny and Ennis to get services. A lot of good volunteers work in mental health in Tipperary, but the Government needs to support us locally.