Mental Health Services
Seanad Éireann — 2025-10-15
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Fiona O'Loughlin (FF), Administrative Panel

I thank the Minister of State. I acknowledge that I spoke to the Minister's adviser yesterday. I am not at all happy with that response. I went through the statistics earlier. County Kildare has the highest rate of youth suicide in Leinster. That has to stand for something. I always try to be positive about my town and my county because I believe in being positive. I do not believe in being negative. but I am so disappointed by this response and the budget allocation. I accept that no new physical location has been put in place since 2020. I talked to Jigsaw and the HSE and I had discussions with the previous Minister of State with responsibility for mental health. I was told that after Wicklow and Tipperary, Newbridge was next in terms of need. Initially, when I saw two new centres were to be opened, without knowing where they were, I assumed and wrote to the Minister of State on the basis that one of them would be in Newbridge. It is not good enough to say that the services are online. I agree that it is better than nothing and it is good to have a cohort online, but young people who have a huge sense of helplessness need to have face-to-face and one-to-one contact. I again make the appeal that Newbridge be considered in the next round.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-10-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:14+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-15