Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. While there are still many challenges in the area of the provision of mental healthcare, the one positive thing that has happened in recent years is that we are now talking about it an awful lot more freely than we ever did. It has been destigmatised and it is okay for people to talk about their mental health in a way that they never would have. People do not feel vulnerable about doing so. In that regard, I welcome the fact that we have debates such as this on a regular basis in this House. I compliment the work that the Ceann Comhairle has done on this over the past 12 to 18 months. Many Members are contributing to the destigmatisation of mental health in a positive manner. If anything good has come from recent years, that has.

However, as previous speakers have outlined, there are still many challenges. It is not good enough that we can now talk about it as freely as we can talk about our physical health if the supports and services are not in place for the people who have an issue with their mental health and they cannot access help. Previous speakers have outlined the long waiting lists, the fact that adolescents and children are cared for in adult wards and the unacceptable practices that continue to prevail. We need to address that in a meaningful way but we will not be able to do so unless the Government starts to consult the medical profession and deals with the challenges it is facing. If those challenges are not addressed, we will not be able to recruit the relevant people across the various disciplines and services where they are needed.

I compliment the many community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations working in this area. Without them, the waiting lists would be more severe. I am thinking of Good 2 Talk in Mullingar, which is a free or low cost counselling service if people can afford to give some money. The Minister of State is aware of it and we have engaged on it previously. I mention the challenges and the bureaucratic form filling and procedures that it has to go through every year to get a small percentage of its annual funding from the HSE. I refer to the Transformative College in Mullingar. It comprises a group of people who set up a café where people can go to learn new things and engage with others. It does not even have a permanent home anymore. A café in Mullingar is allowing the college to use its facilities a number of nights a week when it closes. The college is operating on a shoestring. When it goes to the HSE to seek funding, obstacles are put in its way instead of the HSE telling it that it is doing fabulous work and asking how the HSE can help to make things easier.

Before Christmas, I visited the Athlone Institute of Technology. It is a third-level institution with in excess of 6,000 pupils. The level of service being provided there is simply scandalous. A protest was carried out by the students asking for greater supports. This is the time in life when people transition from a family environment where they have the support of their parents to living on their own. If the Minister of State takes anything on board from my contribution, I ask him to consider how dedicated supports can be provided to that cohort of individuals. I am talking about third level students and I am using Athlone Institute of Technology as an example. The Minister of State needs to go back and look at the good work of the cross-party group on mental health. It was an initiative of my colleague, Deputy Browne, and it was embraced by the Government. Unfortunately, it was time specific and the Minister of State needs to look at reconstituting that committee and letting us work together in a collaborative approach to see how we can address the many challenges that currently exist with positive mental health.

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