Sorca Clarke

I did not say the Minister of State did.

I move amendment No. 33: In page 21, between lines 23 and 24, to insert: “Guiding principles to apply in respect of persons with dual diagnosis 11. Services shall provide integrated care pathways for individuals with a dual diagnosis and the range of services including home, community and inpatient care as appropriate.”.

I move amendment No. 37: In page 22, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: “Criteria for involuntary admission to registered acute mental health centre 12.(1) A person may be involuntarily admitted to a registered acute mental health centre pursuant to an involuntary admission order and held there if he or she fulfils each of the criteria (in this Act referred to as the “criteria fo…

With the greatest of respect, the Deputy has clearly not read the amendment because it specifically states: Nothing in subsection (1) shall be construed as authorising the involuntary admission of a person to a registered acute mental health centre by reason only of the fact that the person— (a) has a psychosocial disability or a mental illness that does not fulfil the criteria for involuntary a…

I will speak briefly to the general scheme of these amendments and the important and critical issue that Garda representatives raised with the health committee this morning about the availability of authorised officers. Their asks, which are incredibly reasonable, are that there be authorised officers for them to call upon. The Mental Health Commission said it planned to bring forward a proposal t…

There is no way to plan outside of 24-7, 365 days a year. I do not think the Minister of State will find an objection from anybody in this House were a proposal brought forward to do that. We all recognise the importance of them and the role and incredible work gardaí do, so when they come looking for something, we should be the ones to say that if we can, we will.

The Minister of State spoke of authorised officers per county. There has to be a better model than that. In my constituency, an authorised officer may be needed in Coole. Granard is ten minutes up the road but Athlone is an hour's drive in the opposite direction. A more open approach, as opposed to one based on restrictive county boundaries, could work much better, particularly in rural areas.

I have a straightforward question. If there are 174 authorised officers at present, how many does €3.5 million equate to?

It would be related to their existing rate of pay if it were considered overtime.

I imagine the information is there somewhere. Somebody has said it is going to cost €3.5 million. What is that cost?

How many?

I will speak briefly to amendment No. 76. This is a real missed opportunity for the Government. This amendment deals with the holistic assessment of an individual. I recognise that the Minister of State said she thinks there is something in this proposal and will consider putting it into secondary legislation. If she thinks there is something in this, it should be inserted in the primary legislati…

I find the Minister of State's position slightly confusing, as she wanted direct input into what a care plan was in the Bill's original iteration. I know the Government has rowed back on the layout of a care plan somewhat. However, for the Minister of State to say she wants to define what the layout of a care plan is, but not what a psychosocial assessment is, just does not add up.

I move amendment No. 81: In page 34, line 4, to delete “24 hours” and substitute “72 hours”.

What can be seen in these amendments is that the Minister of State has listened to the stakeholders who have come forward. When I spoke with them, I was really struck that the concerns that they were raising were coming from a place where they wanted the best possible treatment for the patients, particularly in respect of that gap that was emerging between the involuntary admission versus the trea…

I was going to start by saying there is nothing more insulting to families languishing on the housing list than the sight of an empty house. The Minister of State found a new insult when he stood up and said his policies are working. I tip my hat to him for having more faces than Clerys clock when it comes to the housing crisis. Every single one of those boarded-up houses is a constant reminder of…

Ireland is being used to finance genocide via the Central Bank. We are the only EU member granting permission to the State of Israel for the sale of genocide bonds, bonds that Israel itself openly advertises as funding its so-called war effort. Let us be clear. What is happening in Palestine is not a war; it is a campaign of starvation, destruction and ethnic cleansing. Palestinian men, women and …

As well as being a TD, I am the mother of four amazing children, two of whom have autism. The assessment of need road is very familiar to me. I cannot say I have walked it, because you do not walk this road but endure it. You climb, you fall and you pick yourself up repeatedly. The Government's ongoing inability to uphold the legal requirement to complete AONs within six months is unjustifiable. T…

116. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the current waiting times for inpatient admission for eating disorder services; her plan to increase the number of inpatient eating disorder beds and to fully resource the model of care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24476/25]

My constituency of Longford-Westmeath is no different from every other one mentioned this evening when it comes to the challenges in the early years sector. Parents are facing high prices and an eternal struggle to find places, while educators constantly have to fight for better pay, terms and conditions. The Government's amendment will ring very hollow for one area of my constituency. Further de…

Parents across the country have been telling me of the difficulties they are experiencing in the context of their children accessing appropriate mental health care. They talk to me about hurdle after hurdle and being handed off from one service to another service, with no actual proper service being provided for their children. One parent told me how their child had been refused support, despite e…

With the greatest of respect to the Minister of State, a suicidal child meets the criteria.

We all want to ensure that, as we transition to the new children's hospital, it provides the best quality care with the highest standards of governance, management, ethics, open disclosure and communication between families and medics. However, we simply cannot say that was provided to the children and families failed by the scandal of unnecessary hip surgeries at CHI. A scandal that goes back a d…

I echo what has been said regarding the response of the emergency services and those on the front line. I include in that another group, namely, the people who went out of their way who make sure their neighbours were safe. They are very rarely recognised. I know of one instance where an elderly man had been without contact with any other human for three days before his neighbours went out with ch…

For the past decade, with the exception of the period when Covid measures were in place, the number of people accessing emergency accommodation has been rising. There are 46 properties to rent in the entirety of my constituency, which is two counties, namely Longford and Westmeath. A very basic two-bedroom property is now well over €1,000 per month and an actual shed is €270 per week. The Departme…