First of all, I want to thank all the Deputies for their contributions on this important motion this evening. These are vitally important services, and the Government has taken action to reform, reorganise and invest in the services for people facing into a mental health crisis. There is still much work to do to build supports up to where we know they need to be today. As my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, highlighted earlier, this work covers both our hospital-based supports and our community-based alternatives. We know that emergency departments are often not ideal settings for people experiencing a mental health crisis. However, they are an essential 24-hour service, and we know that people will continue to present there when they need immediate care. This fact underlines the dual approach we are taking to mental health crisis service reform in rolling out specialist nursing teams in emergency departments and building up our new crisis resolution services in our communities. The main objectives of Sharing the Vision, Ireland’s national mental health policy of which we are all aware - I thank everyone who spoke about it tonight - are to enhance the provision of services and supports across a broad range, from the promotion of positive mental health to specialist mental health service delivery. Actions under the policy cover prevention and early intervention, service access, co-ordination and continuity of care, social inclusion and accountability and continuous improvements. Implementation is being driven by the national implementation and monitoring committee. This group has been reviewing the issues of mental health crisis supports. A specific work team is developing an overarching framework to better integrate the range of out-of-hours and crisis services and supports available. One of the things that was highlighted again tonight was the crisis service and the supports available. As we continue to expand alternatives to hospitals for those in crisis, this work will deliver on an overarching crisis response framework to align patient pathways, integrate crisis services and address specific service improvements to fill any gaps in provision that are identified. Mental health is a priority for the Government, demonstrated by the record funding increase since 2020. Funding has increased by over 50% in this time and this has allowed us to recruit more staff, develop new digital services, provide more counselling and roll out specialist services across the country. The ambition of the Government is to provide timely and responsive access to safe, high-quality mental health services for people in mental health crisis and deliver the right care in the right place at the right time. This means effective, compassionate and responsive services in the community, but also in our emergency departments and hospitals. The wider shift to community-based services is particularly significant for mental health where, as we have noted, emergency department and hospital-based services are often not the most appropriate setting for people in distress. Building on this progress to date, in budget 2026, we are making real practical investments to help people in crisis when they need it most. First, we are investing €2.8 million this year to begin the establishment of the specialist nursing teams in every major hospital emergency department during the busiest out-of-hours periods. These teams, made up of highly trained advanced nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists, will be there to provide immediate support to people who arrive in crisis. We also opening the three new crisis resolution services, with teams made up of expert mental health professionals, and Solace crisis cafes, which are staffed by lived experience peer support workers. These services already operate in six counties and in 2026 will expand to serve communities in counties Donegal and Kerry and the midlands. These will be safe, welcoming drop-in spaces for anyone who is feeling distressed or overwhelmed. There is a further €4 million dedicated to early compassionate community-based supports, which is really important. Community supports are really important. This year, we also funded 12 additional suicide crisis assessment nurses. These nurses work directly with GPs to support people who come forward in distress. This represents a €1 million investment. We are providing €415,000 for suicide prevention initiatives designed with the Traveller community. This is by the Traveller community, ensuring culturally appropriate support where it is needed most. We are significantly increasing funding to voluntary and community organisations, including organisations like Pieta House, HUGG and SOS, by €1.7 million, recognising the vital role they play on the ground every day. We are creating a new crisis response pathway for children and young people. This includes 19 new specialist CAMHS doctors to cover emergencies and out-of-hours needs, along with five new adult liaison psychiatrists. This is a major €4 million investment in timely and responsive care. Taken together, these measures show clearly that the Government is serious about strengthening crisis supports, investing in prevention and ensuring help is available when and where the people need it most. The national clinical programme on self-harm and suicide-related ideation works in our hospitals to make sure that anyone who comes to an emergency department after self-harm or because they are thinking about suicide is treated with compassion and gets a quick assessment of what they need. They are then given support and advice on staying safe and a written safety plan that is also shared with their GP. Staff also help link each person with the right follow-up care. The programme is run by teams of specialist mental health nurses and it is now in place in all 26 emergency departments across the country, including every model 3 hospital, with approximately 50 staff involved. The programme also gathers important information on self-harm presentation and shares it with the National Suicide Research Foundation, which keeps Ireland's self-harm register. This data is published every year. In 2024, 12,621 self-harm presentations were reported, a 10% drop compared with 2014. A key part of the service is having a dedicated room in each emergency department for mental health assessments. The national clinical lead has been working with hospitals to ensure these rooms are available. While most hospitals already have such a room, an audit found eight emergency departments still do not have one. The programme is actively working with those hospitals to put that right. In 2025, we launched a new model of care for consultation psychiatry, which gives hospitals a strong and clear framework for developing these vital services. Liaison psychiatry is the team that supports people who come to emergency departments or hospital wards in need of both physical and mental help, including individuals experiencing eating disorders, self-harm or suicidal thoughts. These services play a crucial role in ensuring people receive the right mental health support when they need it most. As part of budget 2026, we are providing funding for five additional full-time staff to help to put this new model into practice. The Government will shortly publish Ireland's new self-harm and suicide prevention strategy, as referred to by many speakers. It will build on the success of the existing strategy, Connecting for Life, while addressing gaps and areas that require more focus. The new policy implementation structures will be supported by a lived experience panel hosted by the National Suicide Research Foundation. We continue to embed lived experience into Government policy formation and delivery. Last year's public consultation involved surveys and a series of in-person consultation sessions. The online survey closed with 1,895 submissions and 200 people were involved in the in-person and online sessions. Access to mental health crisis services and poor experience of presenting to emergency departments emerged as the key theme in these sessions, as detailed in the report on the consultation published by the Department of Health last year. That was the main issue identified. The Government has listened to this, as the new measures we are funding this year demonstrate. Reducing deaths by suicide is a very complex task but evidence and experience internationally show that measurable improvements in suicide prevention can be achieved through effective cross-sectoral, cross-government and cross-functional working. Connecting for Life adopted this approach and, as a result, suicide reduction initiatives have advanced in many areas, including local government, justice, media, agriculture and health. The strategy had strong cross-departmental support, including from the Departments of Social Protection, justice, education, higher education and agriculture. This will continue and will be strengthened in the new strategy. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has allocated €1 million in dedicated funding to begin the new strategy, which will be published in the coming months. As we bring tonight's debate to a close, I thank all Deputies for their contributions. We each know constituents who have faced profound crises and have turned to us, as their public representatives, at moments when they felt most alone. The actions the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has taken and the investment the Government is delivering will ensure our response is more compassionate, more effective and will deliver in the right settings. The Government's ambition is clear and the programme for service reform, integration and expansion is well under way. The Minister of State is committed to improving emergency mental healthcare and welcomes this opportunity to set out the range of initiatives the Government is resourcing to make this a reality for the people in our communities who need to access these vital services. I thank all who contributed this evening. It was really important to have this debate.

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