SINN Féin TD for Kerry Pa Daly has called on the HSE to provide extra counselling and a drugs support worker for young members of the Traveller Community in Kerry.

Deputy Daly said that young Travellers are in a particularly vulnerable position after a number of tragic incidents in the last few weeks and the gaps in support services are more evident than ever.

“We need a full time Drugs Support worker, like they have in Cork, in Kerry and extra key workers in mental health supports,” said Deputy Daly.

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“Extra outreach work needs to be undertaken and reaching out to travellers in estates around Kerry. We have an urgent situation in this county that needs to be addressed now.

Deputy Daly added that continued recruitment difficulties across the health service is not helping.

“Although the embargo has technically been lifted, some posts have been removed or suppressed where previously advertised – over two thousand approved posts, according to SIPTU.

“This is also affecting hospital staff workers where, according to local HSE staff I have spoken to, there are ‘significant gaps and shortages in services’. Staff tell me they are overburdened and exhausted.

“Given this, the lifting of the embargo has been, as one staff member put it to me, ‘smoke and mirrors’ as the vital positions cannot be filled.”

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