Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I wish to look at the psychological and emotional difficulties for people who have been rendered unemployed. There are pressures within the family, within life itself and personal pressures such as self-esteem due to concerns about the future. There has been an 85% increase in requests for emergency welfare assistance, which shows how deep and how difficult the situation has become. The fact that there is a 35% increase in the number of people seeking support from MABS highlights the difficulties that have developed within society. There are currently more than 9,600 people in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, which is an increase of 134% on the figure at the end of 2007. It is extremely concerning that 276 people were jailed last year for failing to repay debts, many of whom failed to pay loans to credit providers.

The issue I want to raise is the difficulty and stress experienced by people who have been rendered unemployed. It is very stressful to be made unemployed, and this is particularly the case for young men and men in middle age. People see employment as their status within their community. The first thing a person is asked is where he or she is from, and the second thing asked is what he or she does for a living. A person who has been employed for a number of years can find it extremely stressful to be made unemployed. Financial difficulty is another issue that causes extreme stress to the person and his or her family. This is especially the case when it comes to foreclosures and the threat of losing one's home. The home is seen as the primary investment and makes a statement about the person.

International research has shown that unemployment, financial difficulty and home foreclosures have led to an increase in the rates of suicide. American psychologists have coined the phrase "econocide" to explain a wave of suicides that have been caused by the current recession in that country. There is a need to invest in the suicide prevention policies and the 12.5% cut on the €4.5 million grant to the National Suicide Prevention Office is an absolute disgrace. The Minister for Social and Family Affairs allocated €11 million to families to deal with family crises as a result of the economic crisis, yet at the same time the Government is ignoring the fact that there will be a higher level of psychiatric difficulties, suicide and self harm among family members. Why not deal with both issues, as they arise equally within families?

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