Debate contribution: Community Crisis Intervention Service: Closure
Debate contribution by Mr Pádraig Delargy on .
- MLA
- Mr Pádraig Delargy
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 14 October 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- Community Crisis Intervention Service: Closure
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5181227
Read the official Assembly record
Text
There is so much that I want to say on this, but the most important statistic is this: 3,500 people were helped in three and a half years. When Councillor Sandra Duffy and I met Extern representatives in July, they said something that I hear every week, every day and every month as chair of the all-party group on mental health. They said that the staff in those services do not want to hear platitudes. They want to see action, they want sustainability and they want a budget commitment. Those staff are being lost, and there is no sustainability, because they are constantly being put on notice because their jobs are always at risk. Therefore, we need to look at a sustainable and long-term funding model for all these services. The motion is particularly pertinent to Derry because, as has been mentioned, in the past year, funding has been cut for Northlands, and the Men's Action Network has closed. The recent closure of Extern's service in Foyle is just another example of the many services being cut. It is particularly pertinent in our area because people are being discriminated against because of not just their mental health needs but their postcode. That is not good enough. What solution to that is the Department of Health coming up with? Are people going to sit in A&E? This morning, I submitted a question for written answer to the Minister. On Sunday past, the waiting time at Altnagelvin A&E was three times the average of any other emergency department in the North. If the community crisis intervention service is not available for the people who want to use it, they are going to sit in A&E — as happens multiple times — with armed police officers beside them. That totally undermines and takes away from all the work that we have done to destigmatise mental health. It only increases the stigma, undoes the other work that has been done around the issue and undermines the mental health strategy.
I do not have time. I will quote from a response that was given to a question for written answer from Mr Middleton on this issue. The Health Minister said:
"I will continue to press for adequate resources to protect and expand services in the North West".
Why is that response coming from the Health Minister? The Health Minister is the person with responsibility for the service. It is not good enough to abdicate responsibility; it is not good enough to allocate 5% to 6% of the overall Health budget, which is over half of our entire Budget in the North, to mental health and then talk about needing more budget. This is about the fact that the Department of Health refused to prioritise mental health services, refused to prioritise intervention services and refused to prioritise services that are being cut in the north-west. When Members asked for meetings after the closure of Men's Action Network, and on the closure of this service, we were told, "No". I want to see what solutions the Minister has, and I want to see what is being done to support people in crisis in the north-west.
528 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.07 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.94).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.96).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.08 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.03 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.05 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.94 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.07 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.96 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.04 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:36 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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