Rose Conway-Walsh: Urgent action needed on Mayo child psychology
Rose Conway-Walsh raised urgent concerns about the lack of child psychology services in County Mayo, highlighting growing waiting lists and deaths by suicide among young people. She called for more psychologists, proactive recruitment to cover maternity leave, and asked the minister and the Minister for Mental Health to respond directly.
Waiting lists and access to services
She said Mayo had a two-year waiting list in 2023 and now faces a three-year waiting list, a situation she described as unacceptable and not good enough for the children of Mayo.
Staffing and recruitment concerns
She demanded more child psychologists in the county and criticised the practice of waiting until a child psychologist or other staff member goes on maternity leave before trying to recruit a replacement, calling that approach ridiculous.
Suicide and community impact
She expressed deep concern about the number of young people dying by suicide in Mayo and warned that families and communities affected by those deaths often cannot access child psychology services.
Request for ministerial follow-up
She asked the minister and the Minister for Mental Health to come back directly with specific information on child psychology provision in County Mayo and to address the wait-time and staffing issues.
Opening remarks and wider comment
She opened by wishing a colleague the best for the future, recognising his contribution to political life, and referenced former leader Leo Varadkar's work as an ambassador for reunification, suggesting others might follow that lead.
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The very best of luck for the future. We did manage to disagree agreeably most of the time and I do want to recognise the contribution that he has made to political life and I would ask you to maybe take a lead from your former leader Leo Varadkar in terms of the work that he has done as an ambassador for the reunification of our island because there are many issues that are facing us that can only be tackled on an all-island basis and there are some wonderful books and academic papers that you can refer to in all of that. The issue I want to to deal with today is the lack of child psychology services in Mayo. In 2023 there was a two-year waiting list which was totally unacceptable. Now there is a three-year waiting list that is not good enough for the for the children of Mayo. We're told that it's due to a range of factors. I want more psychologists in there and I want to end the ridiculous situation of if a child psychologist or anybody else goes on maternity leave that we wait until they're on maternity leave to then try and recruit. Minister, what I'm saying as well today is I'm really deeply concerned about the number of young people who are dying by suicide in Mayo and then even their families and the communities around them cannot get child psychology services. Thank you. You were asking Pascal to follow Leo's lead. I thought you were going to ask him to write a book and I think it would be a very interesting one but let's see if that's for another day. But sorry, you've raised a very serious matter in relation to County Mayo and child psychology services and the wait times as well and you've also highlighted the very serious issue in relation to death by suicide in your county. I'll ask both Minister Carol MacNeill and Minister Butler, Minister for Mental Health, to come back to you directly, specifically in relation to a child psychology provision in County Mayo. Thank you very much.
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