Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat. I thank Deputy Browne for bringing the Bill before us. I welcome the opportunity to support it and to speak more broadly on this issue. When I hear people whose bona fides I do not question speaking with heartfelt emotion about the problems on the ground, they say we need to talk and listen to young people and give them an opportunity to talk. I cannot help feeling a certain frustration because the time for talking - not for young people, but for those in government - is over. Successive Governments have utterly failed to deal with the mental health crisis. I have a passion for this issue, having previously worked as a psychologist. I know exactly what the problems are on the ground. They remain the same unfortunately.

In 1984, a new vision was introduced in the Planning for the Future document, which, believe it or not, recognised all the problems. However, there was a failure to deal with the recommendations in Planning for the Future. We got a new document, A Vision for Change, in 2006. I could not find fault with its ten-year vision for the period 2006 to 2015. That period ran out more than a year and a half ago. A Vision for Change set out every single thing we are talking about today. It set out the crisis in suicide and, more importantly, set out exactly what needed to be done. I have said on the record that nobody believed that any Government would implement that strategy. For that reason, an independent implementation body was established. It sat for two three-year periods and did some tremendous work. It monitored the implementation of A Vision for Change. While some things were done under A Vision for Change, the vast majority of its recommendations were not implemented. The implementation body was ultimately abolished and its work finished.

I suggest that since January 2016, the Dáil has had more open debates on mental health than on any other issue, with the possible exceptions of housing and health. We have talked and talked, but the review of A Vision for Change, which has been promised since the day we were elected to this House, has not been published. The Minister of State's predecessor was very interested in this subject and could not be faulted, but nothing happened. The review was not published. A new implementation body was supposed to be established to monitor A Vision for Change, but that has not happened. Even though the timeframe it covers has come to an end, its recommendations are still extremely pertinent. On the last day of term, we are talking again about young people, the lack of services and the high rate of suicide. All of that is accurate, but we should really be debating why successive Governments have not implemented A Vision for Change. I am afraid the current Government is on the rack now. Why has it not undertaken the review that was promised? Where is the independent implementation body that is needed to ensure appropriate mental health services are provided? It needs to be taken out of our hands.

The economic cost of mental health issues is absolutely frightening. As we do not have precise figures for this jurisdiction, we can extrapolate from Northern Ireland and other countries that over €2.5 billion is lost to the economy each year through lost productivity, additional hospital admissions, etc. That figure is increasing. A figure of €12 billion has also been mentioned. I find that extraordinary, so I am taking the lower figure. There are many problems going down through the generations because of the failure to change. I am using the language of economics to make the point that it is much cheaper to prevent and treat mental illness. I have made a similar point about domestic violence. Perhaps I might be able to get through to the men who are responsible for this issue on that level. Generally speaking, it tends to be men whose view of these issues is dominated by the economic perspective. There are some women who share that view.

On a practical level, we will save money in the long run by dealing with this issue. As a result of our failure to do so, there are just 45 beds in Galway. The Mental Health Commission visits every single year and has been called in more often. It has said in its reports that there are no individual care plans. Last year, patients in the unit in Galway had to sleep on the floor. All of these things have been set out by the Mental Health Commission. I thank Deputy Rabbitte, who has spoken about this issue, for taking action as part of her hands-on approach. A number of Deputies had to raise this matter on Topical Issues to ensure a service on the ground that caters for young people between the ages of 12 and 21 was kept open. It is operating on a shoestring budget of €42,000. I hope it will be announced that this service will receive a minimum of €62,000 in the budget for next year so it can expand to Gort, Carna and Clifden. Is airgead suarach amach is amach é €62,000. It is a ridiculous amount of money to give those who are providing this wonderful service. Over 190 young children and adolescents have gone through the hands of this service since it opened in 2012. There is no doubt that it has saved lives.

I would like to conclude by talking about drugs. A unit in Galway burned down and was not replaced. Counselling services for drug and alcohol addiction have been reduced to a level I do not want to think about. If we are seriously interested in this issue, we need to work together and move the debate on to the implementation of A Vision for Change or its successor strategy. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, to tell us why the new strategy has not been published. When will it be published? Has the independent implementation body been set up? Go raibh mile maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle.

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