John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Any move to improve mental health services in the country is to be welcomed. We all are keenly aware in our constituencies of the rise in suicide rates since 2008 and the devastating effect that has in homes and communities everywhere in the country. The male suicide rate is approximately five times higher than the female suicide rate, with the highest rate of male suicides between the ages of 60 and 64. The sad reality is that this can be closely linked by all agencies to economic recession.

While I support the principle of the motion, I would have questions about how it would work and its implementation. I would hate to see elements of it gathering dust, as the current Fianna Fáil designed national drugs strategy is doing under the current Administration. With regard to the creation of a 24 hour national help line, I acknowledge that Samaritans are already working hard to fill this role.

What I would like to see in the motion is greater attention to the manner in which dual-diagnosis services are handled, for example, where service users present themselves with both addiction and mental health problems which is often the case. In the south east, dual-diagnosis services are limited and this is creating serious problems for both addiction and mental health professionals. They are working with the mental health problems of persons, for example, who are self-medicating, and addicts with mental health issues where there is little inter-agency collaboration. It has been acknowledged, even by Government, that such is a serious problem. That needs to be addressed. I would urge Sinn Féin to consider the inclusion of this aspect as it would make the motion some way relevant.

As I stated initially, any improvement is to be welcomed. However, the serious problem at present is the dual difficulty of both mental health and drug issues. Agencies across Ireland accept that this is a significant problem.

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