Mental Health Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Máire Devine (SF), Dublin South-Central

This decision is inconceivable. As a long-time member of the Psychiatric Nurses Association - I stopped nursing at the last election - I am well aware of the shortages on the ground and of the crisis management we are forced to do - dissipating some of the therapeutics and trying to keep patients safe. It is inexplicable that it has been decided to shut the section 38 and to transfer everybody to Linn Dara and that it will be happy days. That is not going to happen and it will not be as smooth as people think it will be. From talking to nurses on the ground, who are my colleagues, two are in favour moving while the other 20 fear they will be lost to the adult services because they are desperate. We are short 6,000 nurses across the Twenty-six Counties. They will be lost to the adult services as will their expertise with young people. There is also the waiting list. We know we have failed in terms of CAMHS. We also know we have failed our children in the past. Look at Kerry and at lots of issues. Linn Dara closed in 2018. I was on the Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care with former Senator, Joan Freeman, and we visited it. It opened again and then it closed again. I would like clarification.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-20