Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. lt has been a powerful presentation this morning. Thank you so much. The work that you are doing is phenomenal. With this committee I went up to the Ballymurphy inquest. I have to be honest, what I saw that day was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had. When families were there in the court they were hearing testimonies and the emotion really impacted on all of the committee that were there that day. It impacted us all so much. Alan spoke about how a play can tell stories. That for me told the reality of the story. I actually believe that day I saw healing for the families. That is what really moved me . For the next generation, for the children of those families and the healing for them even though some of them were not even alive it has a meaning for their brothers and fathers.

It was so moving. That is the reality of the situation for the families, for the victims and the survivors. I totally agree with Michelle when she says everybody has been impacted in some way. I would have travelled up during the conflict as a child going through Belfast up to Antrim. To go from Dublin in the 1960s and 1970s and to see the British army there is scary for a child. People had to live in that environment. That is the reality of living in a war environment. Everybody has to be impacted by that, never knowing what is going to happen next. Is a bomb going to go off? Is there going to be a shooting? Nobody knew so one is living in that PTSD environment and the impact of that. That does come down through the generations. There is no doubt about it. We know of the huge number of suicides. It has to be a priority. If only the reality was out there from both Governments that this should be a priority, this has to be a priority because it will break that intergenerational trauma. It will save money. It will save the health service money. It will save the mental health services money if they could just look at this whole issue and how important it is. The witnesses have given a fantastic presentation today. It was very clear. They do great work. We want to do our best to support them. We are constantly having these discussions. Michelle might have asked but I am not sure what your reply was about when you met with the Tánaiste. What was the feedback? Do you think that it might be a priority or what is your thinking on that?