Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am proud to say that I have a history of volunteerism in this area. I was the inaugural chairperson of Bailieborough Mental Health Association for a number of years in the mid-1990s. That association went from strength to strength and became involved in a wonderful amount of wide-ranging activities. I worked with the development officer of Mental Health Ireland in respect of the association's work for a number of years and I am happy to say that this association still exists and remains very strong. One of its former volunteers, Sean McKiernan, became a regional development officer in Mental Health Ireland and did an exquisite job in that area. I am very proud of that record of volunteerism so I like to think it gives me certain credentials to speak in this debate. Regardless of my credentials, I certainly have a passion for this area. I am very proud of Bailieborough Mental Health Association but I am equally proud of Bailieborough Mental Health Centre, which was one of the first community mental health centres in the country and continues to do an excellent job. It is a great hub and social centre in the town.

I am also proud of the Cavan-Monaghan Mental Health Service, which has been very avant-garde, progressive and far-reaching. After the fall of the Iron Curtain when eastern Europe was getting rid of some its atrocious institutions, which were worse that the worst Irish institutions, they sent their administrative and professional personnel over to look specifically at services in Cavan and Monaghan as a model for the development of modern services in their countries.

I am very proud of the input of Alan O'Mara at national level. He is a Cavan football star and a native of Bailieborough who has talked about his own mental health issues on national television and radio and talked to young people at many events around the country. It has had a huge effect. He is a very important role model for our young people, as is another Cavan man from the Ballyjamesduff area, Jamie McGrath, who has recently written a book on anxiety. This has also been very reassuring and pioneering work. Mr. McGrath is also an important role model for young people. These are the real leaders young people need. They have created great awareness.

Cavan County Council held a debate in the past couple of weeks on this issue. It is great to see this at local authority level. Needless to say, a cross-party consensus emerged about the importance of suicide awareness. Training in suicide awareness will be provided for members of Cavan County Council and front-of-house staff. This is very progressive. I am proud of those things and proud to come from that kind of background.

The traditional neighbourliness, meitheal and camaraderie that existed historically in rural and urban communities in Ireland was possibly born out of poverty or a time when the non-nuclear or extended family was far more focused than it is nowadays.

That old neighbourliness was a great assistance to good mental health, maybe unwittingly, and we must try to re-establish it.

I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. Nobody could doubt her credentials as a very passionate and professional Minister of State in this area. Anyone who listens to her knows what a feel for the subject she has. A former Minister of State, John Moloney, was also very passionate and did a very good job in this area. It is great to have political leadership like that. I am happy the Minister of State confirmed that €125 million was ring-fenced by this Government in the worst of times. That is a real commitment to A Vision for Change. Of course it is not enough and I could write the speeches for those who would decry it as not being enough but it was very significant funding and an earnest of good intent which produced results. I am heartened that the Minister of State has committed to ring-fencing €35 million in the coming year. She says there have been 1,150 new posts since 2012 and the community mental health teams have been augmented satisfactorily. Therein lies the secret to minimising institutionalisation. Tragically, there are times when that is unavoidable but it is the last option.

I am delighted that the Minister of State is committed to making sure that the child and adolescent mental health service, CAMHS, is supported. I am a teacher and parent of three boys, and have many friends in the teaching profession and know parents, all of whom rate the CAMHS service highly. It is important that there would not be waiting lists for CAMHS but that people are seen and dealt with immediately. A waiting list is not good at any age but is particularly dangerous for children and teenagers. The Minister of State does not need a lecture from me on that. It is very important to have enough personnel in CAMHS that there are no waiting lists and that the community mental health teams do not suffer any lack of resources or people. As increasing resources become available, when there is great optimism around Exchequer returns for 2016 to 2018, it has to be the mark of a civilised, advanced and progressive society that it gives a significant share of resources to, and positively discriminates in favour of, good mental health services. I hope that when she sums up this debate the Minister of State will recommit herself to making sure there are no waiting lists for CAMHS, that the community health teams will be well resourced and ready to go and that in future there will be an increase on next year’s €35 million, especially at a time when independent economists are optimistic about Exchequer returns.

As the Minister of State often says, it is not all about money. That is far from being the only problem in respect of mental health. The big issue is attitude and our willingness to support each other and to destigmatise it. In my lifetime there has been huge destigmatisation and improvement. There is a long way to go, we are not there yet but there is a huge improvement in the attitudes to mental health that were prevalent many years ago. That is changing but there is a need for further change. The biggest challenge for us as legislators is to contribute to that change. We need the help of people like Jamie McGrath and Alan O’Meara and various sportspeople, who are role models for young people and will speak out of their own experience.

This is an important debate. The Minister of State is passionate and has been doing an excellent job. I ask her to make sure there are no waiting lists for CAMHS and to make sure we augment the community health teams. We have to continue to work for destigmatisation. That is our biggest challenge and we have a collective role in that.

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