Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Browne for raising this matter. The crux of the Bill is something we have been trying to address for some time in this country and, historically, we have treated mental health differently, including how we engage with people with mental health problems, how we address them and the funding given to the mental health area. However, I do not agree that in recent times mental health has been treated badly. The Minister of State has already outlined that our budget has increased by 28% or €200 million, which is significant given the times we were in and that other budgets were cut significantly.

I thank the Minister of State for allowing me to share this time with him and I know Government time is short with Private Members' business. Allowing time to debate this is very important. I welcome the commitment of the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy Jim Daly, to this area and his offer to work with Deputy Browne to ensure the intention of the Bill can be achieved. We all hope this can be achieved through an agreed text that is legislatively sound and effects change. I note the concerns of the Minister of State from a legal perspective, and to be viable perhaps the Bill needs to be a little clearer and specific, taking into account good practice, as we are talking about policy aspirations in legislation and that generally does not happen. However, the intention and statement of the Bill is that mental health should be addressed in the same way and with the same urgency and care as physical health. There should be no distinction between the two when it comes to care and treatment.

I acknowledge the Minister of State's comments that the Government takes into account the 1948 World Health Organization definition of health, which is unchanged since that time. It defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of ill health, disease or infirmity. In other words, we are looking at a holistic approach. This is about ensuring everything we do as a Government takes into account services and the right kind of support for people who need services at a time when they need them. When we speak about diagnosis and prevention in particular, mental health should be on a par with physical health.

I have had the opportunity to engage with many organisations over many years. Over the weekend, I had two fantastic volunteers taking part in Cycle Against Suicide stay as part of a home stay. I had the opportunity on Sunday morning to speak to our cyclists as they headed off on their day. I was asked to encourage people to look after their own mental health. From my time as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and my engagement with young people, I know the only way we will be able to put mental and physical health on a par is to teach from an early age to look after their health. We must encourage them to eat well, get enough sleep, exercise regularly and speak with somebody if they are not feeling well.

Bringing benefits to physical and mental health will only come about through improving services together and not separately; we must not separate our physical and mental health. It is somewhat of a paradox that we have a Minister of State with responsibility for mental health. It highlights the importance placed by the Government on mental health but it also takes away from it in that we are separating it from physical health and putting it in a separate box. I commend the Deputy on raising this as an issue and it is something we have been trying to deal with it. As it stands, the Government is trying to ensure that services are improved in mental health in the same way as they are in physical health. We are looking to ensure that funding can be increased in mental health in the same way as it is with physical health, with the outcomes being essentially the same with respect to prevention, diagnosis and treating people.

See this speech in context