Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí as an rún tábhachtach seo a thabhairt chun cinn anocht, rud nach gcuirfidh an Rialtas ina choinne. Cuirim fáilte roimh an deis chun díospóireacht a dhéanamh ar thacaíochtaí éigeandála sláinte meabhrach; réimse ar thug mé aird mhór air i mo thréimhse mar Aire Sláinte Meabhrach. I thank Deputy Clarke for bringing forward this important motion. I welcome any opportunity to discuss mental health. Neither I nor the Government will oppose this motion. When I read it last Friday evening, there was nothing I did not agree with in it. I am not familiar with the work being done in the NHS but we will certainly look into it. I welcome the opportunity to debate emergency mental health supports. This is an area of critical importance for people facing a mental health crisis, and for their families and loved ones trying to support them. This evening I want to set out the range of actions by Government to invest in and deliver vastly improved crisis supports and services. This covers services in our hospitals but also, crucially, as Deputy Cullinane said, a major expansion of alternative supports in our communities. This motion highlights an area of Government policy where significant focus and substantial investment is already under way. As Minister of State, I have been working for a number of years now to expand our crisis supports. Government resourcing of mental health and suicide prevention has increased by almost 60% in my time in this office. Last April, I received the Mental Health Commission’s thematic report on mental health and our emergency departments. The Government welcomed the report, and I again thank the commission for its work. The measures I have funded in budget 2026 directly address the issues raised. They follow detailed discussions with executive clinical directors, the College of Psychiatry, front-line clinicians, people with lived experience, which is very important, and the author of the report. Budget 2026 provides an unprecedented 300 additional whole-time-equivalent staff for mental health services this year, with more than €15 million in ring-fenced funding to expand crisis supports and targeted suicide prevention initiatives. This includes €2.8 million for new specialist crisis nursing teams - advanced nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists - working out-of-hours in emergency departments to support people presenting in distress. These teams will operate under the national clinical programme on self-harm and suicide-related ideation, which is now active in all emergency departments. More than 50 staff already work in this programme, ensuring compassionate, prompt assessments, family guidance, and safety plans for patients and their GPs. Out-of-hours cover has remained a challenge and resolving it is a priority. The new crisis nursing teams will work late nights and into the early morning, providing support at the times when people in crisis are most vulnerable. They will be rolled out to all model 4 hospitals this year, and to the Mercy University Hospital in Cork, due to its high volume of mental health presentations. That includes ten hospitals, four staff funded for each hospital, clinical nurse specialists and advanced nurse practitioners. Recruitment commenced immediately. I intend to expand them to all model 3 hospitals in future budgets, starting with next year's budget. A crucial part of this model is ensuring dedicated mental health assessment rooms in emergency departments, and Deputies have spoken to that tonight. While most hospitals have such a space, an audit found that eight do not. The national clinical programme is actively working with those hospitals to address this. Last year, I launched the national model of care for consultation liaison psychiatry, which guides specialist mental health input in emergency departments and general wards. Liaison psychiatrists play a vital role for people presenting with self-harm and suicidal ideation, and I am funding further posts this year. However, as Deputy O’Reilly said, busy emergency departments are often not the right setting for many people in mental health distress. I could not agree with her more. That is why I am prioritising real alternatives, particularly crisis resolution services and suicide crisis assessment nurses, SCAN, whom Deputy Daly discussed. In 2023, I published the innovative new model of care for crisis resolution services to shift our response for people in distress into much more appropriate settings in the community. These out-of-hours teams provide rapid assessment and intensive intervention, supported by crisis or Solace cafés - safe, non-clinical spaces offering peer support and links to services. Crisis services now operate in six counties, and this year I am funding new services for Donegal, Kerry and the midlands. I understand that early data shows these services are responsible for an 18% reduction in emergency department presentations in areas like Cork and Galway. GPs remain the first point of contact for many in distress, and at primary care level the suicide crisis assessment nurse service is an essential safety net. SCAN nurses provide timely, expert assessments for people in suicidal crisis. I am expanding access to the SCAN programme to new areas in every budget, with funding for 12 additional posts this year, bringing the current total to over 30. However, I want to see SCAN nurses in every single location. Deputy O’Hara mentioned Portiuncula. For the first time ever, in the 2025 budget, I funded two SCAN nurses specifically for the Traveller community to be located in Portiuncula and recruitment is under way. We had the highest level of presentations of self-harm in relation to Travellers at Portiuncula Hospital and that is the reaction to that. In Limerick, a new joint initiative between An Garda Síochána and the HSE, the community access support team, CAST, is piloting a co-response model for 999 calls involving trauma or mental health crisis. Early results are extremely positive, and the pilot will inform a national rollout. Mental health NGOs continue to be essential partners, providing round-the-clock phone and text supports, digital services, and counselling. Government now provides more than €127 million annually to the sector. Funding for Pieta, for example, has increased by 25% between 2025 and 2026 to more than €4 million for crisis and bereavement counselling. Four out of five deaths by suicide in Ireland each year are men, and I have spoken about this many times in the Chamber. I want men to know that help is there and encourage them to reach out. There is free counselling for any man in a crisis or who needs to talk to someone. I thank the Deputies for spreading this news in their constituency offices. This service is underpinned by a package of supports I announced last September, with recurring annual funding of €2 million. I encourage everyone to promote yourmentalhealth.ie/men. It is as simple as that; all the details are there. Men can reach out for these supports from their own kitchen table. I will shortly publish Ireland’s new self-harm and suicide prevention strategy, a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach informed by extensive public consultation. Crisis supports and emergency department experiences were key themes raised, and these concerns are reflected in the strategy. A major evolution since the previous strategy has been the central role of lived experience in shaping policy. This is now embedded across mental health policy, enabling true co-production and more effective, recovery-focused services. Finally, the Sharing the Vision oversight group has been tasked with bringing all of these initiatives together under a new national crisis response framework. This will align patient pathways, integrate crisis supports, and identify and address gaps in service provision. I thank Deputies again for this important debate this evening. I want people to be in no doubt that this is one of my main priorities for reform in mental health, and the programme of work under way and investment we are making will deliver meaningful change for how people experience mental health services when in distress. Anyone facing a mental health crisis deserves a rapid, compassionate and effective response to their distress that meets them where they are, no matter how or when they present. Making this a reality is my priority for this year. The Government acknowledges that this is an area where there are gaps and where services are not as comprehensive or responsive as they should be. We know what we need to do to effect change and are doing it. I look forward to hearing other contributions tonight during the debate. I will not be opposing this motion because I believe it is too important to play politics with. We cannot play politics with mental health. Nobody in opposition is trying to do so. I acknowledge the tone of everyone who has spoken so far. We are in a difficult situation where people are very challenged in relation to their mental health. If only one thing comes out of tonight’s debate, it is that. Four out of every five suicides are men and there are very high levels of suicide within the Traveller community. We have seen a reduction in the number of suicides since 2000. The rate is down by 28% over 25 years, and that is due to the amount of really good work being done on the ground by staff. I acknowledge the work of everyone, whether they are working in the public sector, private sector or voluntary sector. There is a huge amount of good work being done. I direct people to the website yourmentalhealth.ie/men. We should all encourage people to reach out and ask for the supports available. I thank Deputy Clarke again for her motion.

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Next year.

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