Mr. Martin Rogan:

The model of mental health care in Ireland operates on a catchment area or sectoral basis. A person should first present to his or her GP who will then guide the person towards services. Mental Health Ireland has worked with migrant communities in a variety of settings. Sometimes people come in difficult circumstances and with a traumatic history, such as that relating to conflict situations, abuse or human trafficking. These are very difficult circumstances. Where a person lives largely determines which mental health service will engage with him or her and how it progresses. This has its limitations, especially for people with unstable addresses or for those who are homeless. They can find themselves shuttling from place to place. This comes back to the earlier reference on points of presentation where the service needs to embrace the individual, stabilise his or her situation and then see where are the four pathways for the person to move forward.

The outbreaks that were seen in meat plants are sometimes about close proximity working. It is also about people living in very limited and poor housing conditions, feeling unsupported, and sometimes there are language issues where the person does not fully know what services are available. These are elemental questions about equity, respecting people's work and minimum wages, and they simply must be addressed. If we know that the living wage is €2 north of the minimum wage it means that this staff member is contributing €2 to the employer and to the State for his or her labour. This does not respond to human dignity and it does not promote positive mental health. We need to revisit these issues, which are difficult topics for all of us. When we go to the supermarket we want cheap cuts of meat. The question is: "Who is contributing to the cost of that?" We need to be honest and respectful to take a human rights approach and a human dignity approach by asking if the person is being fully respected and fully rewarded for the work and skills at all stages of a product lifecycle. We have certainly learned a lot on that in the last months.

There is an opportunity for us, as an island, to pull together and work alongside each other to properly respect people who come to our country and make a huge contribution to our economy. This would promote mental health. If these people run into difficulties, local GP services may have a mental health model incorporated, and the local mental health services will engage with the person also. There can be linguistic and cultural issues. The HSE has invested in providing interpretation services and so on. It is, however, not ideal for a person to avail of a mental health service through a different language, which can be a challenge.