Mental Health Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Pa Daly (SF), Kerry

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise the issue of the need, or demand, for a suicide crisis assessment nurse. A few years ago, I was speaking to a young man, Stephen McCarthy, who lived about 300 yd from where I live. A woman had seen us speaking, and she asked if she could have a word with him because her son was in school with Stephen.
She said she remembered him as a smart, intelligent boy and that he seemed to have a deep sense of fairness, because life had not been fair to Stephen. His mother was killed at an early age and his father brought him and his two siblings up. Stephen hanged himself the summer before last. He killed himself about 50 yd from where another member of his family killed themselves in the local GAA club. I am not an expert on people taking their own lives but I know we have the fourth-highest rate in Europe for males aged between 15 and 25 and experts say that is underestimated by 20% to 25%. On Friday, a 14-year-old boy will be buried in Tralee. I spoke to his mother and his grandmother last night. Obviously they are devastated. Their lives have been ruined forever. Stephen McCarthy's father said he is scarred for life. Recently I passed all the graves in Rath graveyard in Tralee and the number of people I knew who had taken their own lives was staggering. In County Kerry alone it was 25 people in 2022, 24 in 2023 and 38 in 2024. That is in one county alone. We do not have the statistics yet for 2025 but in those three years there were 87 deaths, which is phenomenal.
There is a scheme, which I have mentioned, for suicide crisis assessment nurses, SCANs. The Minister of State is aware of it. It is in Cork and in Dublin. The HSE states it "aims to provide a timely response to appropriate requests for assessment of patients in suicidal crisis from named GP practices". It goes back to Sláintecare and the right care in the right place at the right time. This would be timely and it is necessary. Having spoken to people in the community mental health service in Kerry, they see the massive demand for it. It is particularly high in the Traveller community. I do not know why. Is it because of social exclusion? Is it discrimination? Is it a low sense of self-esteem? Is it unemployment? Are there other factors? Stephen's brother told me that as a young Traveller he would feel ashamed seeking help. Travellers, according to the experts I spoke to, will not go to the accident and emergency department. They are slow to say it to people within their community. Talking to women, they might find that difficult - there are culturally different experiences for them. However, something needs to be done. I spoke to Elma Walsh from the Donal Walsh #Livelife Foundation. She visits schools all over the country. There is a video the HSE prepared and Donal Walsh did great work just before he died asking people to have the courage to reach out. A HSE video was prepared but because of some battle, I understand with the Department of education, it has never been shown in schools. Elma Walsh is going to Derry this week and was in Dublin last week visiting schools. I am asking the Minister of State to set up this SCAN system in County Kerry to deal with the crisis there.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21