Chai Brady
Minister Jim Daly A Tipperary priest has criticised the “national problem” of the lack of mental health support during a visit to his county by the Minister for Mental Health this week.
Clonmel’s Fr Michael Toomey is on the frontline when it comes to suicide, and said that since a meeting with the Department of Health in June he has dealt directly or indirectly with eight incidents.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic Fr Toomey said: “As a priest obviously I’m dealing with this almost every day, I had one suicide again last week, you deal with the families, the schools, there’s whole connections of people. There seems to be little to no support to dealing with mental health illnesses and issues.”
He released a statement on Tuesday during the minister’s visit to the county saying it was disappointing, “that he cannot make time to meet some of the fantastic staff, volunteers and people who work tirelessly across the county to get a first-hand sense of just how dire the lack of mental health support and lack of beds are here in the county”.
Minister Daly visited to announce Jigsaw would be coming to Thurles, a mental health service for young people aged 12-25. It was announced there would be outreach services to other Tipperary towns.
Fr Toomey said: “There is not one single crisis Mental Health Bed available in the County of Tipperary. This, despite the fact that Tipperary has the highest rate outside of Dublin, and recent figures show that Clonmel has been hit by suicide more per capita than the rest of the country outside of Dublin.”