Hundreds of people around the country have good outcomes when they access mental health services but there are also hundreds who have very bad outcomes. Many with bad outcomes end up self-harming or worse. For many, the tragedy is that suicide is the outcome but for some, what happens is that person goes on to kill someone else. I want to bring to the Minister of State's attention to people in my constituency. First, this letter is from Jodie McGuinness, whose sister lost her life in 2015. The loss of my sister Natalie McGuinness in 2015 was not an isolated or unpredictable tragedy. Her murder was carried out by an individual already known to State bodies, including the HSE mental health services, An Garda Síochána, the criminal justice system and this was a case involving multiple prior convictions, psychiatric concerns, violent episodes and, most disturbingly, missed opportunities for intervention and public protection. That is Ms McGuinness writing to the Minister. She went on to say: While I appreciate the Department's acknowledgment of our family's loss, I must express my deep frustration that, once again, serious concerns have been met with procedural deflection rather than meaningful engagement. That is the experience of a family that lost a loved one. That was Natalie in 2015. In 2017, another young man, Jimmy Loughlin, was also killed in Sligo by a man who was in the mental health services. I have written to the Minister of State and raised it with the Taoiseach several times. These two families, including the Loughlin family, want engagement around this issue. Each time we are told that we are waiting for a report or waiting for this, that and the other. The experience of these families is that these reports are blocks in the wall to stop them from making any progress. It was last July that the Minister of State told me here in this Chamber that this report would be ready within weeks and then she would meet the family. That did not happen. What does that tell that family? What does that tell the hundreds of other families around the country whose outcome may not be that the person who was failed by the mental health services killed themselves? Those people are in the same position. The responsibility of this service's failure lies with Government and Government must step up to the mark and take responsibility. If the Minister of State is hiding behind reports, she is not taking responsibility.

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