I commend Teachta Sorca Clarke on this very important motion. We urgently need fundamental reform of the State’s emergency mental health services. The failure is being felt in Clare and the mid-west. Let me tell a personal story. A few years ago, my nephew was found hanging but we were extremely fortunate that he was still alive. He was taken down and brought by ambulance to a hospital but, because it was at the time of Covid, his mother was not allowed to travel with him. When he arrived at the accident and emergency department, he was placed on a chair – it was one of the most overcrowded emergency departments – and told he would have to wait for hours to be seen. He was alone, traumatised and completely overwhelmed. He rang his mother, my sister, to say he could not cope and he walked out of the hospital. We were lucky to find him before he could do himself more harm. Other families have not been so lucky. To provide a wider picture, in 2023 Clare recorded the highest suicide rate in the State. In 2024, it had the fourth highest. Yet, when my colleague, Teachta Sorca Clarke, received a reply on suicide crisis assessment nurse services, we learned that Clare and the mid-west have not one clinical nurse specialist. Is it any wonder that people feel abandoned by the Government when it comes to emergency mental health care? To make matters worse, mental health presentations at Ennis hospital are not even properly recorded. There is no established process to identify patients who need access to a mental health liaison team. This upsets and angers me. People already feel they have no worth, and the absence of services tells them exactly that. People are dying. Dedicated mental health emergency rooms save lives. This must be sorted now.

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