Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome that this is an agreed motion, although it is a good opportunity to critique the service. The mental health issue is serious and I am thankful it is now being viewed in that way, so we must critique it and be honest about it. I welcome that as a society and country, we have progressed to a point where mental health is not just on the margins for discussion or a kind of taboo subject that should only be discussed now and again as a crisis arises. We are a more mature society now, consisting of holistic beings that are physical, mental, emotional, etc. To ignore one major facet of our being would not make sense.

We have progressed to the point where we expect life to be about more than just managing to survive and getting by, living with some terrible, black issue by oneself. I hope at least that the message is now that there is always hope. As a person can be ill physically, he or she can be ill mentally, but there is help and hope for recovery, as Deputy Neville has stated. When we support and encourage good mental health for all our citizens, we are supporting the general well-being of our nation.

One welcome and wonderful initiative is the rolling out of the counselling and primary care service. This is aimed at individuals experiencing depression, anxiety or stress arising from a particular recent problem or life event, such as an injury, illness, loss and bereavement, or relationship or business difficulties that may impact upon a person's quality of life and the ability to cope. The idea of this counselling is to support people through a tough period, which can occur in anybody's life, as we know. When people feel overwhelmed and are weighed down, and if they feel they cannot get out of such feelings, this is the sort of service they need. It is an eight-week counselling service and a person is referred by a GP. It is part of the mental health service but it could stop people from having to enter acute services or developing more long-term mental health issues. It is the kind of initiative we need. This is currently only available to people with medical cards but we know there are people in different areas who could do with this type of assistance, which is perhaps transitional to a person returning to full health. We should look to open that service more fully.

In keeping with the way society has developed, I welcome the prioritisation that the Government gave when it took office in 2011 and through 2012 for the reform of mental health services. An additional €90 million has been provided, as well as 1,100 staff across the system. Having spoken to managerial personnel in my county, I know we have benefited as well. For example, there is an extra child and adolescent mental health service team. It is a big county and there is a counselling and primary care service in six different centres, so a person is not limited to just one location.

We must do more with the service within the community and, for example, crisis teams should provide a seven-day service. As planned, inpatient beds for mental health services have been closed and there must be support for people in the community who may have traditionally occupied those beds for a few days and weeks. We must also consider people with special needs and mental disabilities. There is a disparity in the medical care aspect of the educational system in special schools. There are children with high medical needs but some of these schools do not have nurses. The provision of nurses is ad hoc, with some of them funded through a block grant from the HSE and some through direct employment. We must also consider oversight issues and the lack of medical guidelines or expertise within boards of management. The HSE should have an oversight aspect to nurses in this area, as the process is now ad hoc. In the UK, nurses work in a school environment. I know there is a budgetary issue but this is a serious matter.

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