Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for coming and going; I had a few media interviews and a Commencement debate. I have been speaking about loneliness and have set up a task force to address the issue. We all know the devastating effects the epidemic of loneliness can have on both physical and mental health. It is estimated that 400,000 people in Ireland suffer from loneliness, and more than 9 million people in the UK, where it costs the NHS €35 billion. That is an incredible amount of money. It is linked with an increase in mortality rates and dementia, and is considered to be as bad for a person as obesity or smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

There is a taboo around loneliness and a shame around admitting that one is lonely. People will often say to me that they are depressed but when asked, they agree that they are lonely. They are not really depressed but rather are lonely. Do the witnesses think that the medical profession has overcompensated in terms of prescribing unnecessarily for those people? Could savings be made in that respect?