Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses and appreciate their time today. I agree with a great amount of Dr. Barry's work and what he has said. To me, a lot of it - because I may be more trained in it - is common sense. I am very much converted to how he feels about this subject. Without getting too hifalutin, cultural and societal shifts are required here and that may sometimes take a generation in how we think and how we relate to each other. Dr. Barry spoke about how we naturally relate to each other.

I have just come from the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs this morning and we spoke about play and physical health. Everything now seems to have to be structures. There has to be a structure and there has to be a label. If there is not a structure and a label we do not even think about it. We are becoming technically minded, perhaps due to technology. This is eradicating a lot of the organic relationships of the past. What the witness is saying may be a manifestation of that. I am not so sure if the witness would agree.

In how we work together, we need to get that message out there about how we relate, talk and listen and we need to have early intervention. It is a natural communication - to use two ears and one mouth - when someone has a difficulty.

I wish to push back on Dr. Barry's comments on Members' offices. I am sure all Members listen to the people who come into their offices and speak to them about the issues. Members are human beings and may have faced challenges or have relatives who faced the challenges of life. I accept that we as legislators need to harness the political will to push for effective services.

Will Dr. Barry elaborate on his thoughts on regulation? He mentioned that the UK has an access model as opposed to our over-regulation model. Will he address the positive and negatives of that?

Applying the money follows the patient model was mentioned. Is there data on this model?

On Sunday next, it will be 25 years since the decriminalisation of suicide was signed into law. I draw attention to the strides we have made and the momentum from that low base to the establishment of this joint committee. We still have a long way to go.