Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this mental health debate and I too congratulate both Ministers of State on their elevation. According to the HSE, one in four of us will have mental health problems at some stage in our lifetimes. Putting that into perspective, at least 39 Members of this House and four of the 16 Cabinet Ministers will experience mental health problems at some stage. Outside this House, we all engage with family, friends and neighbours who too often suffer in silence with what in their view is an inadequacy in their own make-up when the real problem is an inadequacy in the provision of resources to help them. In the past, mental health was too often dealt with in cold, monetary and statistical terms. Now is the time that we in this House and beyond need to see this as a collective, surmountable issue and target a warm, sustainable, national solution to help those suffering with mental health issues.

The Fianna Fáil Party supports the creation of a mental health authority to provide focus through an organisation with the treatment of mental ill health and distress and the promotion of positive mental health as its sole focus. There needs to be definitive ring fencing of funding for mental health services. That means an end to pulling the rug from under these services to shore up other health services. The World Health Organization recommends that a total of 10% of the total health budget needs to be set as a target and ring-fenced. The mental health authority could also help with focusing on tackling homelessness among those with mental health issues.

The Fianna Fáil Party believes the Government should carry out a full review to see what has and has not been achieved with a view to ensuring that targets are met over the next ten years. The Government should hold a mental health summit with all key stakeholders. A renewed respect for stakeholders' input is critical to rebuilding trust with this sector. The review group should consider placing particular attention on the need for non-medical approaches to dealing with mental health issues. It should also ensure that the recovery model ethos is placed at the centre of mental health policy as expressed in the policy document that will follow on from A Vision For Change. We also need to re-establish the implementation review group that would issue regular updates on progress and delivery of the plan. Finally, there is a need to establish a service user representative body to ensure a quality of respect to all those who are involved across the spectrum of service users and providers.

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