John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank those who prepared my script for this debate. As it deals mostly with specific numbers, I wish to depart from it in my response to Deputy Neville. I am not responding directly to his concluding remarks when I say that over the 20 months I have spent travelling the country and meeting groups, I have always found that the Deputy presents these issues in a genuine manner. The manner in which he has soldiered on with regard to this issue, over so many years, proves his commitment. I have heard his arguments and I fully accept the point he made about funding. I assure Deputies that the necessary commitment exists in the Vision for Change document. While money is an issue, all the funding in the world will not make that much difference if people are not aware of the services that are available and if the issue is not destigmatised. Rather than speaking about the targets that have been set, I would like to say that when I was appointed to this job 20 months ago, I gave a clear commitment that I would produce a capital programme by March 2010. I intended to do that at Farmleigh House on 1 March next. I fully accept Deputy Neville's point that this is not all about new buildings or new structures. At the same time, the old structures that served us well in the past century have passed their sell-by dates. We must assure service users that we intend to meet our commitment to ring-fence the fund for the capital programme. The programme must have a specific timeframe and price tag. I will outline my proposals in that regard on 1 March next.

I would like to respond specifically to Deputy Neville's comments. Regardless of the commitments I have mentioned, our major challenge is to make people understand that mental health should be treated the same as physical health. In the past 20 months, I have brought together people from different walks of life to deal specifically with the stigma that attaches to mental health. As I have always believed that one cannot talk about such matters forever, I intend to produce a national programme, See Change, in April or May of this year. I have asked Mr. John Saunders, the former director of Schizophrenia Ireland, to lead the national programme. We have met once a month in recent months to do a great deal of valuable work. I recognise the huge commitment of Mr. Geoff Day of the National Office for Suicide Prevention. I would also like to mention people in the Department like the new director, Mr. Martin Rogan, as well as Barbara, Dora and Joan. I am not getting carried away with a Barack Obama-style motivational policy. However, it is important to organise and provide funding for town hall meetings that are attended by professionals, and at which we will encourage people to talk about the issue of mental well-being. I have talked about this for a long time, but the time for action is around the corner. It will come in April or May, as I have said.

I am not approaching this issue from a professional background. As a funeral undertaker, however, over the years I have seen the difficulty and distress of families bereaved by suicide. The real challenge is to get people to understand that nothing should be hidden in this area. I have always believed that while national campaigns can be very successful, targeted local campaigns are also needed. Local radio stations will be involved in the upcoming campaign, as part of an attempt to encourage people to come forward. The theme of each week's meeting will be "well-being and mental health". I am looking forward to getting five or six local personalities, for example from sport, politics or the arts, to speak each week to show what Vision for Change is all about. I refer to the recovery model and to be able to confirm locally that services exist. It is up to the Government to provide such services and it must live up to that commitment. This is part of A Vision for Change, which has been running for four years and has a further five years to go and now is the time to try to encourage belief.

I accept fully that the figures referred to by Deputy Neville give great cause for concern. I will not pretend for a second that the economic decline means this trend will be only temporary. I also believe in the importance of awareness among all accident and emergency units. I have invited accident and emergency personnel to Dublin to try to encourage them to conform with a uniform policy of spotting self-harming and tendencies towards depression to ensure that follow-ups take place in this regard.

I heard what Deputy Neville said and respect him for his comments and I have taken up this matter since the time I chaired the Joint Committee on Health and Children. While it is important for the Government to set targets, I also believe that one must put together the principles. Rather than simply reading out that funding has been spent or that commitments are in place, it is more important that they should come with that national programme. While I am tempted to ask the Government to nominate 2010 to be mental health year, I do not wish to do so until specific proposals are in place that can be delivered, lest it is again perceived as an attempt at pretence. However, a commitment will be made in March in respect of the capital programme for A Vision for Change and the focus in April will be on stigma eradication. I hope that all Members can get behind this initiative to try to deal with the huge difficulties that exist on this island.

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