Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am dismayed at the lack of progress because every day that passes is another day during which people who need it do not get support. We had fantastic presentations on prisoners and mental health from a range of different people recently. They described the scale of the mental health difficulties for people who are locked up, who have no safe place to be and who cannot escape their surroundings. It was quite shocking. Every time this committee meets a new group, we are shocked. We had members of the Traveller community before us and were shocked at the statistics that they presented to us. We listened to people who spoke about human trafficking and were shocked at what they told us. These are not ordinary, small problems. They are huge problems and the scale of the challenge cannot be overstated but the sense of stasis is overwhelming. I have a number of specific questions on the work plan. Action 8 refers to reducing the over reliance on prescription medication by increasing investment in counselling and talk therapies. The response refers to the HSE having commenced "a service improvement initiative". When one hears such a response, one feels that the issue of talk therapies has disappeared into a black hole. The document refers to access to talk therapies being examined where clinically indicated. We already have evidence and know that talk therapies are valuable in terms of helping people to address problems. When I worked with the Simon Community in Cork we had walk-in therapy sessions with approved counsellors. We did not get a penny for that service from the State but provided it using fundraised money. We did not commence research with a view to producing a report. People were coming to the sessions and disclosing historic abuse issues that they needed to address. We did not tell them that they had to get sober first. If they were inebriated on the day in question, we told them to come back the next day. That service is still in place. Simon did not wait for reviews or examinations. I want a commitment from the oversight group that it will move forward on action 8.

In the context of action 22, the rate of mental ill health and suicide among Travellers is exponential, shocking and a disgrace to us all. Again, we do not need more reports on this. I see that nine grade 7 mental health service co-ordinator posts were created. Are those posts all filled? Are all of those co-ordinators in place? They were being recruited in October 2017, as I understand it. While to me, that is a bee in a bear's belly in terms of addressing the issues, I wonder if even that much has been done.

Given the exceptionally high rates of mental ill health and suicide among Travellers, including young people, the €1.5 million in dormant accounts funding is no more than crumbs from the table. While it is welcome, it is nowhere near the kind of concerted, mainstream effort and funding needed.

Action 27 refers to integrating mental health supports into the health programme for victims of human trafficking but once again we have mention of a review. We are talking about people, mostly women, who have been trafficked into this country and who have experienced enormous trauma. We had a presentation recently outlining the experience of trafficked women in particular. What needs to be reviewed?

While I accept the bona fides of the witnesses here today, it seems that we are dealing here with a cesspit of bureaucracy that is disconnected from reality. We saw the same with CervicalCheck, where good people in the system were disconnected from real people. Part of our job here is to listen to people and to connect with them. The oversight group does not seem to be able to respond in a way that is not about reviewing or kicking the can further down the road. I ask the witnesses to provide further details on actions 8, 22 and 27. I also ask them to provide details on training. Training is referenced in the work plan but how many people are receiving training?