Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their submissions. They are extremely helpful and they raise matters of serious concern. Ms Barry set out clearly the staffing shortages that mental health services are experiencing.

The delegates have no doubt followed the ongoing debate about posts and whether they have been filled. The Oireachtas has been led to believe the additional posts are on track and that the strategy for mental health is on a positive footing. I would like the delegates to set out briefly the impact the staff shortage is making on service delivery. I am also taken with the fact that they have raised the issue of rent allowance and supports for housing and employment. There has been an ongoing whittling away of rent allowance which in my experience has had serious consequences for some. As mental health advocates, will the delegates set out for the committee and the record the impact of that stress on people with whom they work?

I have two questions for the IMO. I am interested that it has raised the issue of suicide prevention. It is extremely timely and important that medical professionals are to the fore in advocacy in this area. There is agreement across the political spectrum that we have a crisis in respect of death by suicide and that we need to act. Will the delegates put a bit more flesh on the bones and say what they are looking for in that respect? Will they also comment on junior doctors and the position in which they find themselves because if their disgraceful slave hours are to be changed, it will have financial and funding implications for the system? I would be curious to hear the IMO’s position on that issue.

To Ms O’Meara and Mr. Macey, everybody knows that smoking is not good for one and that prevention or reduction of smoking is a public health issue. I wonder sometimes whether the approaches the Irish Heart Foundation sets out will work. For instance, I am sympathetic to the delegates' argument which is moving in the right direction, but I wonder about the notion of making the purchase of contraband tobacco a criminal offence. Does that mean we would prosecute Mrs. Murphy or Mr. Kelly who buy cheap cigarettes? Is that what is envisaged? There are other ways to go about tobacco minimisation using education and so on. I am open to being convinced if the delegates could say more about the use of the carrot versus the stick to achieve their objective.