Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise the "RTÉ Investigates" programme last night. I am quite surprised it has not been a common feature throughout the Order of Business. A few weeks ago, I came into this Chamber and spoke quite graphically, not wanting to but sometimes speaking graphically is necessary for effect and hoping that it will land, about the number of people who have walked out of emergency departments and taken their own lives because of the lack of support and continuum in any sort of care they had or the experience they had while they were there. Last night, we saw that currently 38 people in the prison system are waiting for the Central Mental Hospital. We cannot pretend we no longer institutionalise mental health, those in need or those who experience any sort of adversity. We currently still have the institutionalisation of people who need mental health supports. It should be an absolute scandal that this the position we are in that we sit in this big grey institution in the middle of the city centre and there is another big grey institution up there where people do not have their liberty or their needs met and are waiting for acute intervention in the Central Mental Hospital. That is beyond understanding. It is traumatising not only for the people in the prison but also their families who know how much they need intervention. I think there are also 55 people actively in psychosis on remand in Cloverhill. That is a gross underestimation of how many people are actually in need of mental health care on remand. I draw attention to the documents thejournal.ie received in relation to the same issue, which showed that 449 people took their own lives between 2022 and 2024 who had been in contact with the HSE within the previous three weeks. They had had some form of intervention with the HSE for them to be then flagged on the internal system for suspected suicide. That is 449 people within a two-year period whom we know had for some reason presented to a HSE professional in some guise or other and went on to take their own lives. We can also see in those figures that one third of those who arrive at the emergency department with self-harm do not get assessed or meet a mental health professional. These are atrocious statistics but, more importantly, they are people and people's lives. We have mastered the language of care without the reality of care. Until we get to the reality of care, we need to work night and day to make sure those who need our help the most are no longer institutionalised.