Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State. Her ability to speak without a script and at such length about her brief demonstrates the passion she has for the area, which is greatly appreciated. I now am much happier that the money is in the Minister of State's metaphorical back pocket, rather than siphoned off to God knows where within the HSE, which is reassuring. The commitment was to spend it in 2012 and if it is spent in that year, the commitment will have been met. I also am happy the reply circulated to Members refers to the legislative plans for the establishment of the directorate of mental health, which will be an important development.

While the Minister of State is in the Chamber, I wish to make one point in respect of the issue of community and education, because I have raised it in another Topical Issue debate previously and the cross-party group has done a lot on it. Moreover, the group had the Oireachtas Library and Research Service produce a report on how mental health is taught in schools. If mental health services are being brought into the community, which is a welcome step, one must tackle the ignorance within our school and education systems when it comes to teaching mental health and adopting a whole-school approach to mental health. There are much better examples but when I have raised this issue with the Minister for Education and Skills and the Ministers of State in that Department, the standard response is everything is all right because the SPHE programme is in place. However, this is not the case. Children are taught from the age of four in junior infants classes about dental health. They are taught about brushing one's teeth daily and not being embarrassed if one has toothache. However, pupils are not spoken to about mental health until they are 15 and then it is done in a highly wishy-washy fashion. Having made that point, I thank the Minister of State for her reply.

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