I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about this very important issue. I am glad Sinn Féin has brought it forward here this evening. Every one of us has known a lot of people who committed suicide. It is very sad when you lose very fine people that way. We would all love to do a whole lot more for them. We need to do more because the national survey from the Office of the Inspector of Mental Health Services has found that international best practice is not available in most emergency departments in Ireland. I can honestly say we do not have enough facilities in Kerry to deal with the number of people who have problems, especially young people. What happened with south Kerry CAMHS and north Kerry CAMHS is just the tip of the iceberg. In 2016 I had only been up here a very short time when I got a call from a young family, the brothers and sisters of a young boy who was threatening to commit suicide. His father had done it five or six years before that. They were up day and night with him. They had him in a certain hospital at this time and the hospital was letting him go home. They were dreading the weekend and wondering how they would mind him for another weekend. I rang the hospital and I was very glad that a senior nurse came on the phone to me and promised she would look after him. She kept him for three weeks in that hospital. He is perfect today and, even if I never do anything else in my life, I will be glad of that. We are not able to do it for enough people. I am glad that the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, when she spoke earlier said she would increase services in Kerry. By God, we certainly need them. I am appealing to her to get hold of the HSE and ensure that happens. I hear many other Deputies talking here about how ordinary emergency departments are not the place. They certainly are not. We should have a separate room and separate people to deal with these young people - it is often young people who go in. They have troubles from different things, possibly including addiction. There is savage pressure on youngsters now who are going to college, trying to compete and trying to stay in education. It might be hard for them to find their path and which way they want to go. There is so much we could do. We certainly need more psychiatrists but we need more psychologists as well to talk to them and to understand. It is only people like that who can understand the problems they have. Some of it can be hereditary. It has been in families and we know that. We are all united here together that the services must be enhanced and increased. We must help these lovely young people and people who often leave this earth too soon. We have all been at the funerals. We know the trauma it leaves behind for families. It is serious. We have to do more.
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