Mental Health Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-14
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Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (SF), Wicklow-Wexford

I acknowledge what the local teams are doing. They are doing brilliant work at Tara House, Arden House and lots of other places. I am glad to hear that the Minister of State accepts that there are no acute beds in County Wexford and that she will look at that this year. I am just reflecting what every politician in Wexford is saying and what the people coming to me are saying. They are saying that the facility in Waterford is not appropriate. I am not disparaging the work that they are doing. They are doing brilliant work under very difficult circumstances. I know this from a local county councillor who was bringing his own son. He said that it was so difficult. It was not possible to bring him by car because he was likely to jump out so he had to be brought by ambulance to Wexford. This is a county councillor in Wexford who will not mind me saying this because he has raised it publicly himself. I am just saying that the setting is inappropriate. That is his view. He has been campaigning on mental health for many years and has said that it is completely inappropriate for children. I also believe it is inappropriate. It is not a proper setting for someone in crisis. When people in mental health crisis present at Wexford General Hospital, the staff there do not have the training, resources or expertise to be dealing with them.
I applaud the absolutely incredible work being done by groups like It's Good 2 Talk and Talk to Tom up in the north of the county. I have been dealing with Talk to Tom for years and have often referred children to it because it does brilliant work. However, Talk to Tom has not received one cent in statutory funding since it was set up. It organises local fundraisers. It is crazy that a local, voluntary group feels that it must step in to fill the gaps left by the State, a state that is awash with money. I was just looking at figures today showing that over €4 million was spent on security for a facility that was going to be used by IPAS across the border in County Wicklow. That is just one example but I could list hundreds of other examples of where money could be better spent. It is completely inappropriate to be wasting people's money.
Some people say that it is not practical to have an acute facility in County Wexford. I disagree with the Minister of State's previous statement that it is not practical to have a facility in every county. I would be grateful to hear more about what she could do in that regard.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-14