This morning we listened to a gripping and courageous interview on the Joe Finnegan show on Northern Sound with Leah. I am sure the Minister has seen Leah's video which has gone viral on social media. Leah is a young woman who has lost her father and her brother through suicide. She gave a heartbreaking account of how her family had been utterly failed, as she feels, by the mental health services. She spoke of her brother presenting himself at the accident and emergency department and how he was sent home because they did not have a bed. Leah described hospital wards for patients suffering with mental health problems as prisons - unfriendly and unfit for purpose. In Leah's own words, the Government needs to open its eyes. Leah spoke about her father and her brother trying to access mental health services but with no follow-up, no support and no continuity. The saddest part of her experience, as she revealed in her interview, is that she believed her brother did his very best to live. His mind was unwell but his body fought to live. The system has failed Leah's family, and as a result she has lost her father and her brother. I am asking the Minister to recognise the fact that there is a crisis in our mental health services.

I know Leah and her family very well. The family in Arigna has been devastated. Five years ago she lost her father to suicide and two months ago she lost her brother. They told me about the situation of going to the mental health services. Many others have similar experiences, where they go with suicidal tendencies and they are told, "Sit there for a couple of hours and we will talk to you", and then they are told, "Now you can go home and you will get an appointment." It could be a week or it could be a month before that appointment comes. I have a case of a young mother whose child, a teenager, has suicidal tendencies and who is told the same, "Go home and you'll get an appointment." This situation has really become a travesty for families, particularly in the north west but I am sure in every part of the country. We have raised it here on numerous occasions and there does not seem to be anybody listening. When nobody is listening, lives are being lost. These losses are very tragic and it is having a devastating effect on communities throughout the country. It really needs to be dealt with urgently.

I know Leah's family. They are from Arigna in County Roscommon. As Deputy Smyth said, the interview this morning on the Joe Finnegan show was certainly very disturbing. For a girl to speak about the loss of her father and her brother through suicide in the way she did and the way she gave the story was just so heartbreaking. It behoves every single person in this House to deal with this mental health issue. We have more stories coming in about tragedies like this and people are at their wits' end. I ask the Minister, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and everybody here to address this issue urgently. It is not being addressed urgently and we are going to have more and more cases like this unless immediate action is taken.

I thank Deputies Smyth, Kenny and Murphy for raising this. I assure Deputy Kenny that I am listening and the Government is listening but we are not just listening; we intend to act. I thank Leah for telling her story and extend my condolences and those of the Government to her for all that she has been through. It is an unimaginable pain and grief that she must be going through. I did not hear the Joe Finnegan interview but I will certainly make it my business to listen to it and learn from what Leah has to say.

We are acting and I want Leah to know that. The new Central Mental Hospital in Portrane will open next year, a state-of-the art facility replacing a very old, out-of-date building. The mental health budget is now above €1 billion for the first time ever. There are 144 assistant psychologists, a new grade, working in mental health. We have seen the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, waiting list fall by 20% since last December. For the first time ever, there is a 24-7 helpline to signpost people in respect of supports. We absolutely have a lot more to do in respect of mental health. I would certainly be happy to hear from Leah and to learn from her.