A local GP says suicidal young people have had to wait up to nine hours in emergency departments for an assessment.
Roscommon-Galway TD Martin Daly, from Fianna Fáil, said there's been a tsunami of mental health issues since the Covid pandemic.
Deputy Daly says funding for mental health services has increased a lot over the past five years, with €1.6 billion set aside for next year.
But he says we still lag behind the internationally accepted norms for spending on mental health as a proportion of our budget.
He says significant issues remain:
Junior Health Minister Jennifer Murnane O'Connor says the government has been working hard to address this issue:
She did acknowledge more needs to be done.
Anyone affected by that topic can contact the Samaritans on 116 123.
