Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Minister of State for his response. There is a positive note in it. My information is that the national organisation applied for funding. From what the Minister of State outlined, I believe the local branches need to apply through the HSE locally for lottery funding. Section 38 and section 39 applications might be difficult because they tend to relate to the bigger organisations and agencies. Obviously, if funding can be secured through a section 38 section 39 application, so be it. From my limited knowledge, I am not sure that is how it is going to go. Perhaps the Minister State will come back to me on that. He gave some hope that genuine applications from genuine organisations at local level, such as SOSAD, will be considered sympathetically. I welcome the fact that he has accepted the bona fides of organisations. There are organisations that spring up whose bona fides may be questioned, along with the work they are doing. From what I can ascertain and from the feedback on the ground, however, SOSAD has really made a difference to a number of people's lives.

Many factors affect mental health. One is housing, on which we had a fairly heated debate this week. Employment is another. All these factors feed into mental health. Clinical medical health issues obviously have to be dealt with but societal issues can feed into mental health also. Unfortunately, when people get to the end of their tether and reach the point at which they are likely to self-harm, it is vital to have the grassroots organisations - this is the phrase the Minister of State used - at the front line to intervene. There is a very informal approach for people who visit the service. Not dealing with the problem has social, community and family costs. The rate of self-harm among young people and children soared by 22% in the past ten years. That is considerable so we really have to get to grips with the issue.

I welcome the Minister of State's response and will be taking back his message to SOSAD Tullamore. If he has further information, he might send me a written reply. If there are any other opportunities to secure funding for this organisation or others like it, the Minister of State might send me information in the next week or so. I thank him for his reply.

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