John Curran TD for Dublin Mid-West has called on Minister Jim Daly to protect Clondalkin and Lucan Youth Mental Health Services in the area. Deputy Curran was speaking after a meeting recently with Minister Daly and his constituency colleagues Eoin O’Broin TD and Gino Kenny TD on the issue; “The HSE indicated that in late 2018 a decision was taken to integrate the Jigsaw services in Tallaght and Clondalkin. This would result in a relocation to Tallaght of the Clondalkin based Youth Mental Health Services – Jigsaw. “Jigsaw provide a range of intervention mental health services for young people aged between 12 and 25 and are currently providing this service from a premises on Moorefield Avenue in Clondalkin. This Jigsaw branch services the areas of Lucan, Newcastle, Palmerstown and Clondalkin. “However, the HSE indicated that in late 2018 a decision was taken to integrate the Jigsaw teams and services in Tallaght and Clondalkin. The intention would appear to be to improve the service by making it bigger and better; however I have outlined my serious concern with this decision to the Minister responsible for Mental Health. “Youth Mental Health Services are a vital service in our community and the Moorefield premises not only serves Clondalkin, but the greater catchment areas of Lucan, Newcastle and Palmerstown. Relocating will mean a loss of service, lack of visibility in the community for young people to enter the service informally and a lack of availability to already distressed and anxious young people who do not have the coping skills or the resilience to get on a bus to Tallaght to attend appointments.
Youth Mental Health Services Must Be Protected In Clondalkin And Lucan
- Sarah Brooks
- CATEGORY - Clondalkin News, Health, Lucan News
“The local community have fought hard for the provision of local mental health services in the area and to lose the service to Tallaght means that the services becomes centrally based in a location that is not accessible to people from Clondalkin, Lucan, Newcastle and Palmerstown. A decision like this would highlight a cut in services from our local community. “Minister Daly has committed to looking into this with the HSE. An upcoming meeting between Jigsaw and Community Action for Suicide on April 18th and a wider stakeholder meeting is coming up on May 8th; the Minister asked that we see how these meetings work out and if we still had concerns at that point he would meet us again. I welcome his commitment and time on this matter. “Myself and Deputies O’Broin and Kenny stressed the need to have a 5 day a week permanent physical presence in Clondalkin and preferable in the current premises in Moorefield. During our meeting we also stressed the need for the current Adult Mental Health Services in Clondalkin to remain in their current location, above Molloys, until refurbishment works are completed at Steeple House in Clondalkin. The Minister committed to raising this issue with the HSE and he is to get back to us.
“Last year Fianna Fáil secured an increased allocation of €55m for new mental health services as part of Budget 2019. This money must be used to increase staffing numbers in line with A Vision for Change and ensure that waiting times for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services are greatly reduced. I hope to see that in the Clondalkin and Lucan areas we benefit from this increased funding and not get squeezed out of services relocating in Tallaght. “I will continue to follow up on this matter with my constituency colleagues, Eoin O’Broin TD and Gino Kenny TD”, concluded Deputy Curran.
Sarah Brooks
Sarah has worked in marketing and content creation for many years. In her role at Newsgroup, she is the online editor of www.newsgroup.ie with a particular interest in local news and events. Sarah also works closely with our editorial team on our printed editions in Tallaght, Lucan, Clondalkin and Rathcoole/Saggart. If you have a story and would like to make contact please email Sarah at info@newsgroup.ie.
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