Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Breslin and Dr. D'Alton. I missed their presentations but I heard some of them in the office upstairs and listened intently to what Mr. Breslin had to say. While there is no quick fix to this, and both witnesses said that in their presentations, there are a number of things that can be done and we need to highlight those.

Some 50 or 60 years ago, those with mental illness were locked up and the key was thrown away. They were forgotten about. Down through the years, it resulted in many being institutionalised and never coming out of these institutions. If they did come out of them, they certainly were not accepted in what we call our society.

Thankfully, today that is changing and mental health is something that people, such as Mr. Breslin, are prepared to talk about. It behoves us all, because every family, including my own, whether it is the immediate family or extended family, has experienced mental health issues, to refrain from hiding it and not talking about it. It has been known as the hidden illness. Unfortunately, for those reasons, many who have mental health issues find themselves trapped in a dark place and sometimes some of them, unfortunately, take their own lives.

There is a lot of talk about suicide. Like many members here, I have gone to funerals and met constituents who have lost loved ones because of suicide. The questions that come back to them all the time are, "Why?", "What went wrong?" and "What did we miss?". They did not miss anything. Most who have a mental illness walk around every day, like all of us here, with it in the back of their mind. I really believe what someone once told me, that mental illness is only like a line on the ground. You walk across it or you do not. It is the silent illness.

Besides what some think, the Government has made significant strides. I would especially emphasise that the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, has made strides. She has been very vocal about mental illness. She has come to this committee on many occasions and she has listened to criticism as well as taking praise. I believe the Minister of State has been a strong voice for those with mental illness and has tried to put in place the proper services.

I am not a professional medical person. There are many reasons we do not have all the staff we would like to have in the mental health services, and it is not only about funding. A lot of it is about those experts not being here, whether they have moved away for whatever reason, financial or otherwise, such as to study somewhere else. Those are the staff we need to bring back to this country and we need to bring them back now, not in five years time.

We are entering into a general election, which is an important time for this country. We have turned the corner. We are making considerable strides. Let nobody say that has not happened, because it has. Five years ago, this country was on its knees, practically creeping along. I hope when parties decide to run and put candidates forward they will, within their manifestos, which I hope they all will have costed, look at mental health as a significant issue, particularly among young people.

One can have all the education in the world. I listened this morning to a doctor from Cork speaking on the radio about the young lads who took illegal highs over the weekend. In his answers, he spoke about education and everything else. However, all our education begins at home. Senator Crown said it earlier. It does not matter what social background one comes from. There are people from all walks of life with mental health issues.

I thank Mr. Breslin. It is important that young people like him come out and act as an advocate for those young people who are under considerable pressure, whether it be family, health or education. We put our children under a lot of pressure, believing they all should be, without wanting to be disrespectful, professors and scientists. There is nothing wrong with the lad sweeping the street. That is the way. I believe we all need to join the dots.