Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

My contribution will change the tone of the debate. I welcome Deputies Lee and O'Sullivan to the House. Deputy Lee has very strong connections with my constituency and we are pleased to have him here.

I will tell the House why we should have a general election and a change of Government. We should have a change of Government because of the neglect of mental health services during this Government's time in office. It espouses to invest in resources for those suffering from mental illness and has failed to do so.

Three years ago, the report on mental health services, A Vision for Change, was adopted as Government policy. Yet, it has failed to put any resources into the area and has neglected it, despite the fact that one in four people will suffer from a mental illness at some stage of their lives. Tomorrow, the Joint Committee on Health and Children will launch a report on suicide. Three years ago, there was a two hour debate in the House on the 33 proposals contained in the committee's report on how to reduce suicide. Tomorrow, the committee will show that, of the 33 proposals, only seven of them have any reasonable level of implementation.

This Government will not at any stage, and has no intention of, giving anything but lip service to dealing with those who are seriously mentally ill and in need of community service because of their mental illness and those who are suicidal and self-harming - there are 11,000 who self-harm - and is totally ignoring the fact that 600 people die by suicide every year. The Government has no interest whatsoever in those issues.

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