Maire Devine (Sinn Fein)
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I will be very quick. I thank the witnesses for their presentations. One of the witnesses mentioned that the suicide statistics decreased in the ten years after 2006. I disagree with that because it was the period of the lost decade and there was an increase in suicide in this country. Greece was first because of all the turmoil there. I disagree on that but perhaps we have caught up and steadied. There are remaining pockets of increased suicide in deprived areas. It is areas of deprivation that are still seeing an increase in those rates.

I was quite interested in the incidence of the prescription of psychotropic medication. The answer was it was neither good nor bad but I have a great concern about over-medication and the reliance on it, given the pressure on all system points in all areas of our health service. Hopefully at some stage I will get some more data on that to give us an idea of the situation. I know of seven year olds being prescribed Prozac. I do not know the incidence of that throughout the country. It is contraindicated at such a young age. It seems to be a last measure option. It would be interesting for us to know how we are treating our young children. Can we steer well away from medication as much as possible?

I agree on the issues of community-led social prescription and community activism. Instead of using the term "low intensity mental illness", we have to start using the term "well-being" because that is what it is about. We do not want a diagnosis. Will Dr. Murphy repeat what he said about The Power Threat Meaning Framework and that there is no need for a diagnosis for the majority of us because the majority of us have issues with well-being at different stages in our lives? We do not need to be diagnosed, we just need to be supported in our communities by GP practices, counselling or community facilities such as clubs or sports. A knitting club would be one of my suggestions but not everybody is into that. I am interested in that link. We have to blow the water on all of us. A large portion of those on waiting lists are suffering from mental ill-health. We just need to simplify community life and community well-being services