Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I extend warm congratulations to the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, and wish her all the best in her new role. She will be a good Minister of State with responsibility for mental health services and older people.

It is ten years since A Vision for Change, the report of the expert group on mental health policy, established by the then Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and disability services, former Deputy Tim O'Malley. The foreword states, "Each citizen should have access to local, specialised and comprehensive mental health service provision that is of the highest standard". This should be our objective as we set about trying to secure resources for mental health services.

Let us consider the cost of mental health problems to society. Mental illness causes both social and financial damage. The Mental Health Commission estimates that the cost of dealing with poor mental health is 2% of GNP. The mental health of the population of Ireland is an essential foundation for economic and social recovery. More than 450,000 people in Ireland experience depression at any one time. This represents one in ten of the population. People with a mental health disability are nine times more likely to be outside the labour force.

Spending on the delivery of mental health supports is scandalously low. According to the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, annual expenditure on mental health services is 6.2%, which is extremely low when compared to the figure in countries such as the United Kingdom where it is 12% and Canada and New Zealand where it is 11%. A Vision for Change proposed annual expenditure of 8.24%. The low level of expenditure on mental health services must be addressed and we must start the process in the next budget.

The number of suicides in Ireland has remained high, with between 495 and 554 deaths per year from 2009 to 2012. When a focused set of policies, backed by adequate resources and supported by Government policies and State organisations, was put in place to deal with road deaths, we reduced the significant number road deaths that used to occur on the road network. We must give mental health the priority it deserves to enable us to deal with the number of suicides in Ireland.

In its 2016 budget submission the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland put forward a number of positive proposals to assist in developing a policy platform for mental health services. One proposal concerned the provision of community based mental health teams for patients of all ages on a 24/7 basis nationally. It stated this must be a priority if inroads were to be made in dealing with the continued morbidity and mortality due to suicide, self-harm, chronic mental illness and alcohol and substance abuse. It also proposed a nationwide recruitment of recommended professionals to fully resource the teams, giving people in need co-ordinated, professional support where and when they needed it. A Vision for Change delineates the types and numbers of mental health professionals who should be involved in mental health teams in each area nationally. The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland also proposed multi-annual funding, beginning with a five-year rolling incremental budget, increasing to a minimum 12% of GDP.

I acknowledge the work of many advocates in this area and give special mention to Dr. John Hillery, director of communications and public education at the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, who is passionate about advocating for people with mental health challenges. In my constituency, Kildare North, I see the benefits of having a day care psychiatric service in Kilcock. Users of this service contacted me recently when it was threatened by cutbacks. I was delighted that it was maintained, but I saw the distress and anxiety caused by the threatened cutbacks to the people using the service and the benefits they derived from it.

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