Mental Health Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-14
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Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

I am trying to count to five here because, as I reiterated, only two children across the whole country were admitted to adult wards last year. Two 17-year-olds were admitted, with the consent of their parents, for their own safety. There are no children being admitted to the department of psychiatry at University Hospital Waterford. That is the first thing I want to put on the record. Second, when we are finished here I suggest that the Deputy takes a look at the Mental Health Commission's report on foot of its visit to the department of psychiatry at University Hospital Waterford last year and the results therein. I am not going to leave it hanging in the air that there is a service in Waterford that is not fit for purpose because that is not the case. On three occasions, Deputy Ó Súilleabháin has disparaged that service. I know the teams that work there and I know the work they do.
As the Deputy knows, under the capital plan there will be a new-build unit in University Hospital Waterford. A new 50-bed department of psychiatry is in the capital plan and has been progressing, albeit slowly, over the last three years. It was meant to be adjacent to the hospital. The consultants there and the executive clinical director wanted it to be part of the hospital and that is exactly what is going to happen.
We must acknowledge the work being done by all six general adult teams in Wexford, the psychiatry of later life service in Wexford, and the two CAMHS teams in the county that I have visited. I also want to acknowledge the services that are available, including the liaison services through Wexford General Hospital. We cannot underestimate the services that are being provided. The issue the Deputy raises today relates to acute mental health beds in Wexford. There are none currently planned but we are certainly going to look at the issue, perhaps in the context of a crisis house or a high-level hostel. It is on my radar. I will give the Deputy that but I want to acknowledge the good work that is done in the department of psychiatry in Waterford.

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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