Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the groups who presented today. The purpose of this committee is to look at the challenges of mental health in Ireland. It is clear that some groups have many more challenges than others and are suffering and experiencing mental health issues disproportionately. The representatives today have spelled it out, in particular the striking presentation from the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, MRCI, about the situation of people who have been subjected to human trafficking. The representatives have noted that the HSE team does not have the capacity to provide mental health services and that victims face difficulties in accessing mainstream services. The committee could make the specific recommendation very clearly that those teams supporting people experiencing human trafficking should have access to mental health services as a right.

Rashimi spoke very eloquently about the issues facing people because of the undocumented status, and for the committee to support recommendations from other committees and from the UN to regularise people's situations.

The BeLonG To report was also very striking. It compared the wider population of young people in Ireland and LGBTI young people had two times the level of self-harm, three times the level of attempted suicide and four times the level of severe or extremely severe stress, anxiety or depression. These are very arresting statistics and we as a committee must pay attention to them when making our recommendations.

I congratulate Dylan. I have met him before when we spoke in the Seanad, along with his mother Kirsty. I thank him for the very eloquent performance.

The Traveller suicide and mental health statistics continue to shock. We read them over and over again and nothing seems to be happening. In the committee's recommendations and reports we have to send a very strong message about this. I shall read them in to the record again because I believe it is really important: the Traveller suicide rate is six times higher than the settled population and suicide is seven times higher for Traveller men and five times higher for Traveller women than in the wider population. Another shocking statistic is that 97% of Travellers die before their 65th birthday. This being tolerated in a country as prosperous as Ireland is nothing short of shameful. There are only 40,000 Travellers in the State. This is not a problem, an issue or a challenge that we should not be able to reach.

I am also struck by the links with education. I recently submitted a Commencement Matter to the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton. Only 167 people from the Traveller community have ever gone to third level education. All of these things are interconnected. I am especially interested in the Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre's advocacy for the primary health care Traveller projects and how important they have been. This committee can make sure that its recommendations puts those projects on a secure footing. I am aware, for example, that every year the project in Cork lurches from one financial crisis to another and is dependent on what is left over in the social inclusion budget. This was not mentioned by any of the community health care organisations when they came in, yet this is a critical lifeline to a community that is dying on its feet in every which way - mental health and otherwise.

We hear you. The Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris will appear before the committee in a couple of weeks. If there is anything that I have not said, or if there is anything the representatives would like us to say to the Minister, will they please put it on the record before they leave the committee today?