Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State very much for being here to respond to my Commencement matter. She and I have spoken both publicly and privately in relation to it. She is an incredibly strong advocate for preventive measures and for positive mental health, which we always need to focus on. We must ensure that everybody's, and particularly every young person's, mental health is valued and supported, and that where a young person needs early intervention, he or she can get that. That is the motto and the value of the organisation called Jigsaw. It is a terrific organisation and, most important, there is great trust in it, both from young people and their families and communities. We are always encouraging young people to talk about challenges or issues they may have with their mental health. Once they start talking about it and asking for help, they need to get that help. That is certainly something on which Jigsaw is very focused.

When we are talking about young people's mental health, we know that about 2% of those looking for support may need to go to child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, which entails an intervention at a more serious level. About 33% of those who need support do not need to go to an organisation like CAMHS but need to have support that is confidential.

Jigsaw works not just one-to-one in youth therapy. Very importantly, it also works with community programmes. It works with schools, sports organisations, youth clubs and community organisations, so it is really reaching young people where they are. We know young people are showing signs of stress or anxiety and that it is a very stressful and anxious world. Interventions can be made at this stage.

The reason I have tabled this Commencement matter is that I have been advocating for a long time for Newbridge to have a Jigsaw service. According to the census figures, Kildare has the highest proportion of young people aged under 24 in the State, representing 36.6% of our total population.It is representing 36.6% of our total population. The number of under-25s in Kildare is actually higher than the total population of Offaly, Cavan, Sligo, Roscommon, Monaghan, Carlow, Longford and Leitrim. In 2020, the number of young people admitted to a child or adolescent psychiatric unit was far higher than the State rate in Kildare. There is a huge scale of need. I always hate talking about these figures, but in terms of the rate of youth suicide, Kildare has the highest rate in Leinster. According to CSO figures, 14 people died by suicide in Kildare in 2023, in 2022 the figure was 26 and in 2021 it was 27. Demand is rising sharply for services. For other CAMHS services that are surrounding Kildare, parents and people in authority are contacting Jigsaw services that are outside Kildare. It is very evident. The case is made that we need to have the service. The case is also made in relation to the statistics that Jigsaw has itself in terms of its success rate. There is no doubt that more young people are reaching out and Jigsaw is certainly keeping pace. Young people are being seen sooner. If they need other referrals, Jigsaw can work with other organisations. When young people get support, it works. That is the most important thing. I stand here on behalf of the young people of Newbridge and the surrounding areas. If it was located in Newbridge, we would also have an outreach in respect of other areas. I hope the Minister of State has positive news for me today.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important matter in the House today and for her consistent and persistent advocacy in support of expanding youth mental health services in Kildare. This is not new to the Senator. She has been doing this for as long as I have known her, over her ten years in these Houses, in advocating for positive youth mental health supports, positive well-being and those crisis interventions when they are needed most.

In developing child and youth mental health services, the HSE aims to promote positive mental health. The Senator is quite right in what she said. We have about 1.2 million young people under 18 in Ireland now. Ten or 12 years ago that figure was about 900,000 so there is more of a demand for services. The Senator is also quite right that only 2% of young people thankfully will need the support of CAMHS. However there are a lot of other supports that we need to provide, whether through youth clubs, Foróige, family resource centres or the likes of Jigsaw, early interventions or primary care psychology. All of that working together can support an awful lot of young people so they do not end up needing the support of CAMHS.

I have worked with Jigsaw since coming into this role six years ago and compliment it on the work it does. Jigsaw will receive almost €16.5 million from the HSE under a service level agreement in 2026 from the mental health budget, to provide youth mental health services for those with mild to moderate mental health difficulties. As the Senator is quite aware, no new physical Jigsaw locations had been funded between 2020 and 2025, when the organisation pivoted to develop a suite of new digital services. I want to make it really clear that no matter where people are in the country, they can contact Jigsaw online. However, after Covid it became very clear again that young people like the physical interaction of being able to go to a physical location. In 2022 I opened a Jigsaw in Tipperary, which had been funded previously. We have not opened one since because the digital services were available to all young people. Jigsaw also went through a restructuring phase and has come out of that really well. It has reduced the waiting list, which is really important. We are currently working closely with it to support the expansion of Jigsaw services to Waterford and the south east, as well as to County Clare. The location of Waterford was picked because we have no services in the south east at all. It is great that we will have the hub and spoke model the Senator spoke about. Jigsaw will be based in the city but will have a spoke into west Waterford and other areas of the south east. It is also expanding to County Clare. We have a Jigsaw in Limerick and we are going to put a spoke in there.

Kildare is high on my agenda in respect of Jigsaw. It speaks for itself, with the statistics the Senator has provided and the number of young people. The HSE working with Jigsaw would have the ultimate decision on location but Newbridge having 36% of the population really speaks to a massive demand. We are just starting with the Estimates process now and I will be working really hard to secure the funding to expand a youth mental health service provision, as these go out to tender as well. My aim is to make sure that there will be another presence of Jigsaw within budget 2027. The Senator's area is very high up on the list to deliver a Jigsaw. We have a few areas that specifically need them, we all know where they are and Kildare is one of them. I will continue to work with the Senator on this because it is really important.

I was able to work very closely with Waterford City and County Council to secure a premises in Waterford. It is very difficult to provide the funding for the premises plus the services. If we were able to rent a premises in a particular area, working with local authorities and the community on the ground, it is very helpful.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for her positive response. In terms of premises, I had meetings with Jigsaw over the years in Newbridge and we did look at various premises. No later than yesterday, I spoke to the chief executive of Kildare County Council in relation to this. Local councillors Noel Heavey and Rob Power had a motion tabled in Kildare County Council regarding premises. As we all know, the population of Kildare has really expanded. We are actually short on space for existing services. Having said that, I have written to local estate agents and I have made contacts to other commercial entities within the area. I do appreciate that having the right space is important. We need to have a big space for Jigsaw to function. Hopefully it would be Jigsaw although I appreciate that it needs to go out to tender. We feel in conversation that we would need to have quite a sizable premises. I am undertaking that work together with the authorities. I know the Minister of State will appreciate that Newbridge is just totally squeezed. We do not even have a community centre there, which is shocking in itself. We need to have more. We have started that search. I am working with Jigsaw and certainly would hope, in conversations we have had with it, that we will have a positive announcement at budget time. That is really why I wanted to have the Commencement debate now. We know the Minister of State is working very assiduously with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for public expenditure in relation to getting the services but also rightly getting value for money. This has to be an absolute priority and I appreciate the positivity from the Minister of State today.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I am hearing the Senator loud and clear. There is only a short time but there are two things I want to address now. The reply that has been provided also outlines the supports that are available in Kildare, which I will put on the record of the Seanad. Kildare In Sync provides a wide range of youth and family services. The Naas Child and Family Project is part of In Sync youth and family services. In Sync also provides youth counselling service to 11 to 25-year-olds, and supports the LGBT community. It is important to say that there are supports there. I visited the CAMHS teams in Linn Dara last year and want to compliment the really good work that is going on.

In relation to any proposal, a proposal for a new location requires a detailed business case, a premises, support from the regional HSE management, and the necessary funding to resource the staffing of the service. That is where I come into it and what I will be trying to do. Any new proposal also requires agreement from the HSE national child and youth mental health office, which I work very closely with in the context of agreeing new service priorities. The whole focus now as we deliver services across Ireland is from a heat map of geographical locations pinpointing the areas that do not have a particular service. That is what I want to do.I look forward to working closely with the Senator on this because I recognise, appreciate and acknowledge that it is crying out for a youth mental health service such as Jigsaw in her area.