Minister defends Tipperary mental health facilities

The Minister with responsibility for mental health claims there are no capacity problems with facilities serving Tipperary.

Currently people from North Tipp have to travel to Ennis while those in the south of the county go to Kilkenny.

A campaign to have acute beds restored to Tipperary has been running for some time while there are regular complaints that no beds are available in either Ennis or Kilkenny.

However Minister Mary Butler says there is capacity.

“I had been hearing that there was capacity issues – that there was no beds.”

“But that is not the case – 85% capacity was used all during Covid and also in 2019 in both facilities.”

“So I need to put that to bed straight away today that there is not capacity – that is inaccurate.”

Minister Butler also says staffing issues are the main stumbling block in returning St Michael’s Unit in Clonmel as an acute mental health facility.

Speaking on Tipp Today earlier she was asked why the unit – which has had nearly three-quarters of a million Euro spent on commissioning it as a 30 bed Covid facility – could not be used as a mental health facility post Covid.

Minister Butler says doing this would be far from straightforward.

“In order to have an acute facility you need staff – and it would be very, very difficult.”

“One of the local Oireachtas members happened to say that if we could have even ten beds – but in order to have ten beds you need psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists, various amounts of clinicians and nurses. And that is very difficult to achieve.”