Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies and the Acting Chairman. The number of people who want to speak and the fact we are debating who goes first are indicative of the seriousness with which the public and Deputies across the House take the issue. When the debate started, there was a big outcry on social media that we were not in the Chamber and were not interested in speaking but that reflects the lack of public knowledge about how this House works. It is normal for people not to be in the Chamber during part of a debate. It also showed that people wanted to engage with and to watch this Parliament for once because we were discussing an issue of critical importance.

Mental health is hugely important. During the nominations for Taoiseach, I read out a letter from a woman in my own constituency whose family had been very much affected by this issue. Her family ran into financial difficulties around mortgage repayments, resulting in relationship breakdown, and she was unable to access mental health services in her area. Ultimately, the woman died through suicide and the family was left with many unanswered questions. After I read the letter out, the amount of feedback I received really showed how much this issue had affected so many people. It touched people and people saw in it something of their own circumstances, or those of their sister, family and so on.

The link between austerity and mental health issues cannot be ignored as the two things are intrinsically linked. So many people are now experiencing these issues that one cannot divorce it from what is happening. We have seen an undermining of the social fabric like never before. We have seen an undermining of the concept of public services and a greater emphasis on individualism, which is contributing to isolation and is very unhealthy for people. Psychologists Against Austerity have called neoliberalism "poisonous public policy". It is fairly obvious when one thinks about the unspeakable pressure people have come under as a result of their situations; they are perfectly predictable and natural reactions to what they are faced with. If one takes away people's security of employment and housing and leave them to drown in debt while taking away their social protection and removing community supports, it is no surprise they suffer and that their mental health suffers. One in five suicides worldwide is linked to unemployment and job insecurity and huge numbers of suicides are linked to depression and anxiety as a result of not being able to access a job. In this context, cutting mental health services is like closing oncology departments after a nuclear disaster. It is the last thing one should do.

The fact that the mental health budget has been even touched is absolutely scandalous and is the wrong answer to the issue. Actions speak louder than words. The first day Deputy Enda Kenny was elected as Taoiseach he spoke about the need to teach young people resilience and said that they and their families could access the services they need. Resilience has a particular meaning in mental health services but to hear the Taoiseach say that, when the actions of the last Government have actually contributed to poor mental health, is not acceptable. There were cuts to mental health budgets to the tune of almost €214 million, or 21%, between 2009 and 2015. There is a link and those in power have to take responsibility for that. People could infer from the Taoiseach's remarks that they would have to put up with whatever was thrown at them.

The facts as they relate to Ireland show that we are performing very poorly. Ireland has the fourth highest rate of suicide in Europe among young people aged between 15 and 19. Almost one fifth of people aged between 19 and 24 have experienced some type of mental health problem and 75% of mental health difficulties arise before the age of 25, so that age cohort must be our starting demographic. Young people in society need our help the most. The Taoiseach directed them to the services but sometimes the services are not there. Sometimes they are, of course, and I praise the great initiatives that have been taken, such as the Jigsaw programme in second level schools where young people engage in peer mental health tutoring with their school colleagues.

It has been shown scientifically that if young people talk and open up to other young people - perhaps those who are a little older than themselves and might be perceived as cool kids in the way younger teenagers look up to older teenagers - they take in much more from such peer mentoring than they would from adult mentoring. The programmes being run in our second level schools are absolutely worth their weight in gold. They encourage young people to talk and open up. They emphasise that there is no such thing as a small problem or a problem that cannot be shared. This service is an asset that needs to be developed.

Pumping people up on anti-depressants is not the best way to deal with these issues. People often need counselling. They need to talk and listen. In many cases, people do not have the money for such services because they are privately run. It can cost between €60 and €100 an hour to continue with counselling. Those who cannot afford private services have to wait for months to access the services provided by the public system, which do not extend beyond a maximum of eight sessions. We cannot have a health service like that. It is letting people down and costing lives. That is why any discussion on mental health must be linked with economic policies. Neoliberal economics is directly at odds with the idea of good mental health.

I do not have time to speak about the fragmentation of mental health services, as evidenced by the presence of different providers. Instead, I will focus on the issue of mental health in prisons. The Jesuit Centre for Justice and Faith, which made an excellent presentation to us this morning, has released a report about young people in prisons and the dangers of solitary confinement. All of the empirical evidence shows that a significant proportion of those who end up in prison have mental health problems. People with such problems are disproportionately represented in our prison system. We have not managed to find a proper system of interim care between the old institutional model that prevailed in years gone by and the care in the community model that exists now. There is a gap there.

Many people end up in our prisons because they are responding to behaviour, trauma or crises that happened earlier in their lives, when their mental health issues were not dealt with. It is enormously expensive to keep some someone in a prison. The best way to deal with someone who has mental health problems does not involve putting him or her into an environment where, at best, he or she will be locked up in their cells with one or two other prisoners for 17 hours a day. Some people can be in solitary confinement or lock-up scenarios for 23 hours a day. These are the mechanisms that drive people to mental health problems. Clearly, such an approach does not help people to sort out their problems. At this morning's meeting, Fr. Peter McVerry and others suggested that the services in our prisons should not be equal to what is in the community - they should be better than what is in the community. That might sound a bit mad but there is a need to re-tilt the balance. One of reasons some people end up offending and getting involved with our criminal justice system is that they have not been given the supports they need. Once they are linked in with the system, we should be going over to help them sort out their problems. This area needs huge consideration, particularly in light of the correlation between young people and offending and the prevalence of mental health issues among young people.

Everybody in this House has a genuine desire to tackle these issues. This is one of the biggest problems facing Irish society. We have to back up our approach to it with the empirical studies showing that economics feeds into mental health difficulties. A different type of tack needs to be taken from an economic perspective if we are to deal with this issue.

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