John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is odd welcoming people and organisations I know. I acknowledge and am enlivened by the fact that a number of people have spoken from their own experience. I refer to Ms McGuigan and Ms O'Shea, and a man who is not present, Mr. Martin Dooher, and people from Ballina to Cork. That is important. Ms O'Shea came back to that point. It is important to hear from people. You had an experience recently, a Chathaoirligh, in the AV room of listening to the stories of a number of people, which is important. A couple of things struck me. Ms McGuigan made an observation that one might need one of those nice nurses so Nurse Ratchet need not apply any more. It is so important to meet someone who can listen to one in any situation. The question was asked why do we not have everybody from the Government here. That encapsulates where some of this needs to go after today.

Mr. Lynch mentioned education. We have had references to housing, poverty, education, transport, communication, loneliness, social exclusion, the congregated settings, PAs and people in nursing homes. It is very important that we find a way. My colleagues and I cannot deal comprehensively with the very solid submissions that have been made that have knitted a lot of things together. That might be something we as a committee need to think about and come back to the issue of other Departments.

I have a couple of questions on mental health reform. What is the understanding of witnesses about the extent of social exclusion for people living with mental health difficulties? The next question is related. The witnesses mentioned a lot of very practical things that need to happen in the health space. Could they name even two other Departments or areas of the public service that need to get their act together in order to make a critical and complementary improvement to people with mental health needs?

I have a couple of other questions which I will not direct at anyone in particular. This is a provocative question. In the past, have we given too much responsibility to the Department of Health for the lives of people with disabilities or has the Department in a sense, just picked up stuff it should not have picked up that rightly belongs elsewhere?

Community living and making that work was clear across the various submissions. I wish to go beyond the area of health, although witnesses can mention things in that regard as well. What actions in other public service domains would help to move people back into their rightful space in their communities and keep them there? They are the specific questions. I have many others but I will not get into them as I would be here all day. We need to find a way to tidy up the loose ends. A richness and synergy was evident in the presentations today that I have not seen come across too often. We must find a way to go beyond this stage. We will have some other discussions next week. I again thank all the witnesses.