Maxi's Law campaign and Louth mental health service failures raised in Dáil

Failures in mental health services, that have prompted the Maxi’s Law campaign, as well as a message recorded on the answerphone at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Dundalk were raised in Leinster House last week by Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú.

The CAMHS situation was highlighted no less than three times by the Sinn Féin TD last week, with Taoiseach Simon Harris undertaking to contact the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Mary Butler, to see if it can be resolved.

Speaking about the Maxi’s Law campaign, during a debate on health insurance, Deputy Ó Murchú said: “I visited Clan na Gael's GAA club where there was a group called Maxi's Law, which is named after Mark ‘Maxi’ Kavanagh, who was very well known in Dundalk and who died by suicide.

“The group raised the issue of mental health services and spoke about the need for equality of access and highlighted examples where, because they had cover with VHI or another provider, they were able to access St. John of God's, or other services, which were not available to others, and the obstacles as regards dual diagnosis and so on.”

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He said there is inadequate staffing in Louth-Meath mental health services and Crosslanes is due a ten-bed extension, which, along with resources, “is absolutely required”.

Deputy Ó Murchú said: “We do not have a decent means of assessment, which needs to be sorted between Crosslanes and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.”

And he said that the message on the answerphone at CAMHS Dundalk, which was recorded on October 15, stated the service “is experiencing a crisis in administration because the number of its administrators has been cut”.

He said: “There is only one person working, for three days a week, and calls are answered only between 10 a.m. and noon on Mondays and Fridays.

“The message goes on to say clinicians will try to continue with their appointments and will answer the door for appointments, but that is all.

“While they are trying to do that, they believe that certain functions will be compromised. We have a huge issue and it needs to be addressed.”

In response to the situation with CAMHS, An Taoiseach said: “I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health to see if that issue can be resolved and to revert to the Deputy directly.”