Seanad report
Jimmy Walsh
A Government member said the House should, as a matter of urgency, seek clarification on what had happened to money allocated for mental health services in the 2007 budget.
People involved in the field had spoken yesterday of allocated funds ending up elsewhere, said Maria Corrigan (FF). She believed all Senators took the view that mental health must have a priority status. This meant that all money designated for such services should be spent on them. It was a matter of urgency that there be some accountability to the chamber and to the Minister for Finance as to where the money provided in the budget had gone.
Calling for an early debate on mental health, Ms Corrigan said it should focus on the implementation of the strategy set out in Vision for Change. The HSE had recently said it hoped to have a draft implementation plan ready by the end of this month. Two years after the adoption of that strategy, it was not acceptable to be talking about a draft implementation plan.
Camillus Glynn (FF) said the "murder" of a young Offaly man by a mentally ill person was very worrying. It brought into focus the fact that there were people in our community who suffered from psychiatric illness and who needed to be treated in a secure setting and, in some cases, involuntarily. Information was scant in relation to who had interviewed this man "because, if the individual was as ill as he obviously was, then questions have to be asked."
Joe O'Reilly (FG) said a horrendous Christmas tragedy had befallen the family of the young man who had been killed in Dublin at the weekend. "Our hearts go out to them and the sympathy of this House must go out to them." They had heard of an individual having three times sought admission to psychiatric care. It was a shocking story.
"Who did he approach? Why was he released? Why did he not gain admission? This must be rigorously done and done more quickly than any other type of inquiry." Mr O'Reilly said it was disturbing to hear the chief executive of the Mental Health Association saying there was insufficient funding to implement Vision for Change.
House leader Donie Cassidy said that he wanted, on behalf of the Seanad, to convey condolences to the family of the victim of the dreadful tragedy. *****
Two decisions given in the European Court yesterday in cases relating to the Schengen agreement showed there was a price for opting out of EU treaty provisions, Eugene Regan, Fine Gael justice spokesman, said. Ireland and the UK had opted out of that agreement with the exception of certain provisions, but both had applied to partake in two aspects of the agreement. One related to EU agency Frontex, which was concerned with co-operation on external borders. The other involved standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents. These were two areas of activity of the Union that were important in fighting crime, but the European Court had ruled that at this stage, neither Ireland nor the UK could participate in them.