Verona Murphy on Wexford mental-health failings after teen's death
Verona Murphy spoke in the Dáil about the death of Brandon Roach and the wider shortfalls in child and adolescent mental health services in Wexford. She argued that referrals are not being met, called the gap a failing of government, and urged greater prevention through schools and funded services.
Incident and condolences
Ms Murphy paid tribute to the family of Brandon Roach, whose body was recovered from Wexford Harbour after a 10-day search and who was due to be buried the next day. She expressed sympathy for the family and noted the emotional impact of the case on the local community.
Referrals and service gaps
She cited figures from a parliamentary question showing that in 2023 the HSE recorded 677 referrals to child and adolescent mental health services in Wexford, of which 202 were seen. She emphasised that two-thirds of referrals were not being seen, leaving, she said, 475 children without appropriate services, and noted referrals came from GPs, A&E and NEPS.
Dispute over claimed A&E cover
Ms Murphy challenged recent statements that 24-7 services were available via A&E, saying that many referrals originating from A&E were nonetheless not being attended to. She contrasted the search-and-rescue response to Brandon's disappearance with what she described as inadequate preventive mental-health provision.
Prevention and school-based programmes
She argued prevention must start earlier in life and highlighted SPHE programmes in primary schools and developing wellbeing curricula across schools as central to building self-esteem, mutual respect and resilience among young people.
Funding for NGOs and tribute to rescue teams
Ms Murphy noted investment in non-governmental organisations working in youth mental-health advocacy, mentioning Jigsaw and Pierre House and stating that substantial funding has been provided to such groups. She also paid tribute to rescue organisations including RNLI, Slaney Search and Rescue and civil defence for their search work.
Calls for accountability and continued work
She described the service shortfalls as a failing of the government and ministers in charge and reiterated the need for ongoing societal and state action to improve mental-health prevention and access to care. She said investment has increased but that more must be done to ensure children are seen and families supported.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
I too would like to thank all the staff for the time I've been here. Short time may never be back but I want to say I've enjoyed it. But I also want to pay respects to the family of Brandon Roach in Wexford. After a 10-day search his body was recovered from Wexford Harbour yesterday and he will be buried tomorrow. This is, I'm almost 70 times standing here expressing my concerns for mental health in Wexford. Brandon's death and body has been recovered less than two weeks after my last representation. The figures I have come from parliamentary question. They are facts, they are not made up. The response was that the HSE in 2023, a total of 677 referrals were made to the child and adolescent mental health services in the whole of Wexford. 202 were seen, less than a third. Brandon Roach was 19. Two-thirds of the referrals made by doctors, A&E or maybe through NIPS, the National Educational Psychological Services. Two-thirds were not seen. 475, Count Corley, you will have to indulge me, because this is life or death. 475 children with nowhere to go. GPs and their families at a loss as to what to do. After 70 times of mentioning this, last week or two weeks ago your Minister said 24-7 services were available through A&E. These are referrals from A&E, but they are not being seen. Two-thirds of our children, but yet we can send every voluntary organisation to search for a body for 10 days, from the RNLI to Slaney Search and Rescue to all of our rescue services, but we cannot do prevention. We cannot see the children to assist the families when they are needed. This is a failing of your government as Minister, as Tawnishta, as Tisha and the Minister that sits behind you. First of all, my deepest sympathies to the family of Brandon Roach and that is a very sad situation for them and for their family and friends and our thoughts and prayers are with them. In terms of mental health more generally, prevention is the key. But prevention, I think, begins earlier in life. And I think the most important programmes are in the SPHE programmes in primary schools right through where you build up self-esteem and mutual respect and the values that hopefully can build resilience in life itself. And all schools now are developing wellbeing curricula, wellbeing programmes to try and, if you like, demonstrate the interdependence of us all on each other and they need to help each other as we grow and develop in life itself. And then we invest now, we've done a lot in terms of non-governmental organisations in the mental health advocacy area where we fund a lot of door organisations, Jigsaw well over 100 million, to those organisations, Pierre House, quite a lot of them, and Jigsaw and so on like that, to engage with young people and to help young people who have mental, whose mental health is impaired or under pressure and have mental health issues. And I think we have to continue to do that. And we do, I want to pay tribute to all of the rescue teams and organisations, some of whom we fund, in terms of what, in search and rescue in particular. We're over time, please. From civil defence right across the board. But it's a sad situation. We have to keep working on it. Investment has increased, but it's a societal involvement, it's a societal issue as well. Thank you very much.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
