I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this incredibly important motion on emergency mental health services. It is essential that we appreciate this is a vital area that needs to be looked at. For these reasons, I strongly support the motion that calls for every model 3 and model 4 hospital to have a dedicated mental health emergency room, separate from the emergency department. A dedicated mental health emergency room would be a game changer for the likes of Letterkenny hospital. It would allow patients suffering from mental health illness to get immediate specialised care which is far too often delayed and inaccessible, and in cases in Donegal completely absent. It is devastating that in this day and age we still treat mental illness with less urgency and seriousness than physical illness. The consequences are just as real and detrimental. Left unaddressed, mental illness increases the risk of physical disease, isolation, homelessness and death. Minimising this does not reduce its impact. It allows preventable suffering and loss to continue. Research tells us that one in two people in Ireland will directly or indirectly experience a mental health crisis at some point in their life. Investing in emergency mental health services makes sense and it would have wide-ranging impacts. The Mental Health Commission has reported that each year an estimated 51,000 people access mental health services for the first time through a hospital emergency department. That should not be the case. There should be a dedicated fully staffed place where people experiencing mental health difficulties can go. Our emergency departments have been reduced and we have not had significant investment in years. Donegal is suffering and is facing a significant mental health crisis characterised by long waiting lists, rising demands and overstretched services, compounded by the defective concrete crisis currently going on and the mental health crisis that is causing. I have raised Oisin Keenan's research many times before. I will continue to do so because it continues to be relevant. Oisin's study, An Earthquake in Slow Motion: The Mental Health Impact on Ireland's Defective Concrete Crisis, has shown that rates of depression, anxiety and trauma-related disorders are all significantly higher among adults living with defective concrete in their homes compared with the general population of Ireland. More than a third of the 393 adults surveyed reported experiencing suicidal ideation and suicidal thoughts. Sadly, the research conducted on the children living in defective concrete homes has showed a similar trend which is heartbreaking. Children being raised in homes with defective concrete already experience profound and lasting effects to their mental health and emotional well-being. Many individuals are affected by uncertainty, instability and chronic stress when growing up. This can stifle their development, increase the risk of anxiety and depression and cause behavioural issues. You can imagine just how difficult it is for children with disabilities and special needs living in these circumstances and the impact is not confined to childhood. Early exposure to prolonged stress has been shown to impact long-term physical and mental health. The crisis is intergenerational. The pressures and trauma experienced by parents and caregivers are directly influencing their children's sense of safety. It is having a profound effect on their mental health as their lives progress, causing unprecedented levels of mental illness in Donegal. Without timely, sustained intervention, the defective concrete crisis creates a serious risk these mental health difficulties will be carried forward and become generational, deepening inequality and placing further strain on already stretched services. For this reason, we urgently need to develop an integrated crisis response pathway for mental health in Donegal involving our emergency departments, which is vital. We have had a significant rise in young people seeking mental health support. According to Jigsaw, 744 people in Donegal sought support between January and October last year. That is a massive 34% increase on the previous year. The defective concrete crisis is one of the causes. It affects more than bricks and mortar; it affects marriages, families and children and severely impacts our elderly population, who feel abandoned. They have contacted me. They are in vulnerable situations and are going through the later stages of life in severe peril and depression. Their mental health has gone. They are broken. We need to address this and realise how serious it is. I have been in contact with the Minister of State in the past regarding the old convent in Carndonagh, a recovery-focused, crisis intervention step-down facility. There is a seven-day outreach service which will support people to remain in their own home and integrate with their local community as planned. As well as this, day services and acute short-term services will reduce the number of admissions to the department of psychiatry. Funding for a new crisis resolution team is needed. We need significantly more mental health facilities in Donegal to deal with the issues we are experiencing, with many more to come. Will the Minister of State inform us of a timeline indicating commencement and completion of the transition and prioritise mental health facilities in the north west? Down the line, this will be an absolute epidemic.

Sentiment score: -0.26