Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our new Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke, in his new role with responsibility for public health in the Department of Health. As colleagues have mentioned, for many years he has advocated on health issues and fought for many people in the health area.

There has been an increase in loneliness. Earlier I was looking at an article in The Irish Times - my computer has just gone on the blink now. It referred to a sociologist who spoke about a major increase in loneliness particularly after the Covid pandemic. The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, TILDA, shows an increase in loneliness and isolation particularly in older people. It also refers to the impact it has on physical and mental health outcomes.There is a clear link between loneliness and isolation and poor health outcomes. There is something that the Government can do here because we have the data and statistics on the impact of loneliness on people.

I thank my colleagues in the Green Party for tabling this motion. It is excellent that we are having this really rich debate. Everyone in the Chamber has brought different and new ideas about how we and the Government can tackle this. I come from a relatively small town in a rural area. One of the challenges I see at a local level that ties in with this increase in loneliness is a lack of engagement in volunteering. Senator Black talked about people's civic engagement and the effects of Covid. We also discussed a Fine Gael motion last week on smartphones and screen time and the impact they have on young people and indeed, people of all ages, in terms of increasing anxiety and isolation. We are also seeing that people are not getting involved and active in their local communities; they are not volunteering. Volunteering can mean giving a few hours to community groups, day care centres, and charity shops, including those shops with great pre-loved outfits. There is something missing, and that is something the Government needs to explore. It is something that has been highlighted.

There is a lot of investment by the Department of Rural and Community Development, particularly in smaller towns. The towns and villages programme is specifically targeted at towns with populations of less than 10,000. One area of investment is in the development of green spaces. Some of the funding in Roscommon and Galway was for parks and green area in places like Monkstown and Castleplunket. Funding was provided for other areas across the country. It is all about having spaces where people can come together, as well as community hubs which can be multipurpose spaces where different activities take place. All of this is about the regeneration of our local areas, many of which have been a little bit forgotten by those in our larger urban centres. That type of funding is really crucial but it still does not really address the challenge around volunteering. I would like to hear the Minister of State's thoughts on this. How can the Government support people in our towns and villages to engage in volunteering?

Under the Department of Social Protection we have the community employment, CE, scheme, the rural social scheme, RSS and Tús. Under these programmes, people can get an income while working on community projects in their local areas. There is an opportunity here to work with CE supervisors and supervisors of these other schemes on the types of activities in which they get involved and work on. An awful lot of funding is for capital projects - for buildings and other things - but we also need funding for facilitators, liaison officers and people who can work with local communities. Sometimes it only takes one magic person and we all know who they are. In any town or village, there is always one amazing person who goes over and above. Usually that person is employed, often by a community development group, but he or she does about 10,000 different things outside of the normal nine-to-five working day.

The Suck Valley Way held a conference in Roscommon recently and the theme was loneliness. Councillor Anthony Waldron was really involved in that. Senator Martin Conway attended the conference. One of his proposals was to consider how we work with our local authorities. The Minister of State has responsibility for public health. I am interested to hear about how his Department engages with local authorities like Roscommon or Galway County Councils on public health and public health measures like providing support for facilitators or liaison officers on particular projects or activities in local areas.

In terms of the challenges around loneliness, one major issue that has already been mentioned is bereavement. Bereavement supports are essential. The HSE has highlighted everything that it is doing in this area and the charity Alone is also very much involved. It is extremely hard for couples, particularly after many decades together, to engage and become part of a local community again and to get involved. We need to provide bereavement supports for people, for families and friends who cannot manage so well when these things happen.

Another issue to highlight in the context of supports, which could be considered in a cross-departmental way, is funding for clubs, sports organisations, swimming pools and so on. This is under the remit of the Department of sports but it affects both rural and urban areas. Funding for arts and crafts, including music, is so important. We have an amazing musical society in Ballinasloe. We have an amazing drama society and every Christmas we have a pantomime. All of the children get involved. All of the parents come along with their children and get involved too. There needs to be an understanding that the funding of these types of activities tackles loneliness. It encourages volunteers; it encourages people to come out, get involved and enjoy meeting others and knowing what is going on in their local areas.

Again, I thank the Minister of State for being here. I also thank the Green Party for tabling this motion.