Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak. Ironically, in my maiden speech here, five years ago, I spoke on this issue. In five years, the area has not particularly improved. My contribution five years ago was based around the fact that we needed to create more awareness and education around the issue of suicide and how we could handle it. I felt we should have used sports people and people in the media to highlight the difficulties involved in depression and suicide. To a certain extent, it has improved in recent times. In the media, Bressie has been an outstanding ambassador in highlighting the issues involved in suicide. Unfortunately, the numbers have increased in recent times. A number of years ago, we highlighted road traffic accidents in a major way. We should do the same regarding suicide.

While much has been said about the recent transfer of €12 million of the €35 million that was ring-fenced, the mental health budget has increased over recent years. However, it is not enough, and we need to provide more funding. We must be careful not to make a political football of mental health. There must be broad cross-party agreement on whatever has to be done. When the new Government is formed, whoever is responsible for the issue must carry out a review of A Vision for Change as a matter of urgency. Given that it has been in place for ten years, the review must commence as a matter of priority.

The previous speaker mentioned humanising the issue. A human story has come to my attention during recent weeks. I was approached by a very distraught and frustrated mother of a 13 year old boy who had been suffering from depression for the past six or seven months. She is from the Carlow area and did not know what to do initially. Her GP told her to go to Pieta House in Dublin, which she did. From there, she was moved on to Tallaght hospital, where she saw two consultants, who gave a diagnosis of what was wrong with her son. Unfortunately, because she was not living in the catchment area, neither consultant was entitled to prescribe the appropriate treatment. Between St. Patrick's Day and Easter, she had to endure the difficulty of preventing her son from committing suicide on two occasions, which was a very difficult and traumatic experience for her. On numerous occasions, she was told to attend the accident and emergency department in Kilkenny, which she did, only to be left sitting, holding her son, for several hours while she went through a process, which was very difficult. In Kilkenny, she had to start the process again, although she knew exactly what was wrong with her son, and was unable to get the treatment he needed. This all happened because she was living in a certain catchment area.

This issue must be resolved. There should be no boundaries in the health system, particularly the mental health system. Boundaries must not be allowed to prevent any person from receiving the services or medication he or she requires to sort his or her difficulties. The issue must be resolved as a matter of priority. People must be able to access services in a timely manner. There must be access to services. We need more people involved in the services. There were to be 1,500 extra people employed in mental health. While I can understand the difficulty getting these people, over the next six months to one year, extra effort should be made to ensure we have as many people as possible available to look after people, as required.

The mental heath service is a very important issue. It is important we do not kick it around like a political football but have broad agreement. In recent weeks, an Oireachtas committee has been established to deal with issues such as housing and homelessness. A cross-party committee to look after mental health services might be a way forward.

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