Sinn Féin leader addresses lack of mental health services in Offaly

By Rebekah O'Reilly

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has addressed the lack of mental health services in Offaly during a visit to Tullamore on Thursday, November 14.

Mental health campaigner Ray Larkin brought the issue to Ms McDonald's attention, after sharing that he had been with the families of two suicides in Offaly that morning.

He says the issue is the lack of a 24/7 emergency service in the region.

"For mental health, there's no service - end of story," Ray told Ms McDonald. "Something has to change."

"I'm after [seeing] 5 to 10 suicides, and this is the feedback I'm getting - there should be an out of hours service, and a special mental health doctor in every town that can reach someone that's in difficulty in 10 to 15 minutes."

The Sinn Féin leader said she absolutely agrees with Ray that mental health care is lacking the relevant resources.

"Actually, the professionals came together and very good strategies have been agreed, the problem is they haven't been properly resourced," she said.

"Going into this election we have a very extensive health plan, and we've done a huge amount of work on mental health. Our colleague Mark Ward has been leading out on this.

"We have to invest properly, we have to make sure that the supports and services are there, preventative measures, but also for crisis, support for the individual, and support for the family."

Ms McDonald was in Tullamore for the opening of the new permanent constituency office for General Election candidate Cllr Aoife Masterson.