Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank everybody for their contributions and for the work they do in communities across the country. I have identified some common themes from the witnesses' submissions. Would I be right in saying they believe there is a lack of a united approach and, if so, will they expand on that? We frequently read about the tragedies that befall people's families and communities and I am exasperated that we still do not have a united approach when we are all trying to get to the end result of keeping people alive and well in their communities. Why do we not have a united approach on the fundamental issue of keeping people safe and well?

My background prior to becoming involved in politics was as a social worker working with very young children, and often with families who had significant difficulties. To pick up on a question Senator MacSharry posed about emotional literacy, I believe we can and should be teaching children as young as two and a half and three years of age about emotional literacy, and there are programmes that do that. Barnardos has a programme called Tús Maith where the language is explained and the emotional support given by their preschool teachers. That message and exposure to education trickles home, and it is reinforced with the parents with support from people like those in Barnardos. However, Barnardos is not an organisation that springs to mind in terms of promotion of mental health and emotional literacy, and that highlights the lack of a united approach. The work Barnardos is doing with children aged three, four and five in very disadvantaged communities across this country is as important as the work being done by Aware, Pieta House and the Office of Suicide Prevention. We must not forget that we are all stakeholders in positive mental health and looking after ourselves.

Another important consideration, and Mr. Layden from Aware spoke about it also, is screening. We have very effective cancer screening and have seen great results but we rarely screen ourselves in regard to how we are feeling. People often ask us how we are doing and the response is "I am grand", but we do not look at that in a significant way. That is important for all of us, regardless of whether we are on top of the world or at the bottom of the heap in terms of how we feel. There should be some way of being able to monitor that.

I would like to know from the witnesses the reason for the lack of a united approach because that greatly concerns me.