Mental health and six-year rule
Senator Devine backed concerns about mental health services, especially for children, and criticised the handling of budgets and closures. She also welcomed Pearse Doherty's Bill removing the six-year rule and urged it not be left sitting on the shelf.
The Leader will have time to respond. I call Senator Devine. I ask Senators to respect the Chair.
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I will try to be a little more reasonable and have respect for the Chair but I understand it is difficult at times.
I echo what has just been said. We are facing a potential Taoiseach who overtly despises the poor.
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It is frightening for the rest of us.
I support Senator Freeman in the questions she asked of the Leader about mental health, especially the mental health of our children. We have been talking about this for years. Every time the Leader rises to respond, he roars back at us and tells us "dún do bhéal" and be quiet-----
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-----because we are asking questions and asking for forensic audits of the mental health budget that seem to disappear. The Leader may well laugh, but the children of this country do not. Services are being shut down time and again-----
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I am not laughing at the Senator; I am laughing because she quoted me as saying "dún do bhéal".
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-----when we need to expand them and embrace our kids and not leave them languishing in accident and emergency departments and other not-fit-for-purpose services for too long.
I welcome Deputy Pearse Doherty's Bill, passed last night, which will see the removal of the six-year rule. It will strengthen consumer rights for people who have been done in by financial institutions over a number of years. I hope the Seanad will not allow it to languish on a dusty shelf but will allow it to pass.