Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will start by saying a few words about the suicide crisis. Over the 30 years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, more than 3,500 people died. In the Republic, nearly 7,500 people died in the first 15 years of this century from troubles of a different sort: suicide. The majority of these suicides resulted from a mental health crisis.

Comparing the political response to the two sets of troubles is interesting. The Northern Ireland Troubles were always near the top of the political agenda. Taoisigh and Ministers dedicated a significant amount of time and resources to addressing the issue but the other troubles have been dealt with differently. Nowhere is this better seen than in the allocation of resources. The budget for mental health services between 2006 and 2016 has, according to the Minister, been cut from €937 million to €827 million. What he did not say in his report was that the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government failed to bring mental health spending up to even the paltry level that existed in 2006.

The €35 million ring-fenced for increases in mental health expenditure was originally planned to be cut entirely from the 2016 budget. After the threat of a ministerial resignation - it was interesting to note the way the Minister talked about two Ministers working together - the money was restored. It was restored in the run-in to a general election. Now, after the general election, more than one third of that money is being diverted to prop up other parts of our ailing health service. What has happened? The Minister is not sacked and does not resign. The Minister does not even stay in the House for the duration of this debate, let alone come into the House to apologise. He should apologise to the families and communities at the front line of this crisis who see €15 million that was meant to be spent to assist them not being spent in 2016.

The Minister should travel around the country and meet some of the hundreds of community-based groups that have taken up the slack and filled the gap, or huge gaping void, that has been left in mental health services through the failure of his party and Fianna Fáil to prioritise this issue. The Minister should visit these people, many of whose parents, brothers, sisters and friends are behind the suicide statistics, and look them in the eye and explain to them, if he can, why he is making this scandalous decision.

Like my colleague Deputy Gino Kenny, I wish to comment briefly on the response of the Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland. Deputy Ó Caoláin gave the relevant information. There are 700 vacant posts in mental health services and there are 1,000 vacancies, either current or emerging, for nurses. Is it any wonder that the trade union representing psychiatric nurses is considering industrial action? Deputy Ó Caoláin has pointed out that the national executive of the union is to meet on 11 May to consider balloting for industrial action. If the membership decides to take this step, it will have the support of every family in this State who has been touched by this crisis. They should have, and deserve, the support of every person in this land who cares for equality, justice and a decent society.

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