John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I do not want to respond by way of the prepared to reply. I acknowledge the major contribution of Deputy Dan Neville to this area. I attended the conference in Limerick to which the Deputy referred and I saw at first hand the huge amount of respect shown to him for his involvement. I want to say that again publicly, and will continue to say it.

Rather than just read out the reply it is important to tell the House that at long last a director has been appointed to drive forward reform on mental health. I am pleased to tell the House that the person concerned is Martin Rogan. I wish him well. Since coming into this Department I have always believed that a director should be in place. It is also important to say that we cannot hang everything on the director's shoulders in terms of driving the reform programme. All of the issues raised by Deputy Neville are relevant also.

The next process is for the director to sit down with the 14 regional clinical directors throughout the State and drive forward the commitments and the recommendations in A Vision for Change. It has been made clear to me in the Department in recent months that people are not satisfied with the pace of reform, and I want to recognise that also.

The next part of the process must be to put together the capital programme to deliver what is contained in A Vision for Change. It is also important to be proactive, and in January I will be coming forward with a national programme on the issue of stigma. I had intended doing that in December.

I will not give a full account tonight but I am pleased to tell the House that I took up many of the points raised by Deputy Neville when I chaired the health committee, which did a review of the high incidence of suicide levels, the subject of this Adjournment matter.

I accept the point that when we compare the investment in the reduction of suicide levels, and this point has been made by Deputy Neville and many others, to the funding allocated to the road traffic area, for instance, it is obvious that the level of funding is not the same. I have put a proposal before Government for the forthcoming budget on the issue of trying to determine how we can best use the funding of €4.5 million that is currently available; an additional €1 million was dedicated. It is also important to tell the House that on Monday last I was in Trinity College dealing with young people who brought forward their proposals on being more aware of their mental health and mental well-being. I intend involving all of the local radio stations and local print media in a direct localised campaign to deal with the issue of stigma.

I acknowledge the points raised by Deputy Neville. There is no doubt that the recession is putting greater stress on individuals, families and communities. I meet individuals and representative groups every day, and many people have expressed particular concerns and fears about the impact the recession is having on their lives. I welcome the opportunity to debate the issue and to confirm that at the conference organised by Deputy Neville's group, the professor from the United Kingdom who was the first speaker and whose name I forget-----

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