Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on her election and appointment yesterday.

More than 14 years after A Vision for Change was published, Ireland finds itself in the middle of a pandemic that is expected to place additional demands on already overstretched mental health services. We have many mental health challenges ahead of us and I was a bit disappointed not to hear any mention of mental health in the Minister's speech. Pre Covid, never mind post Covid, we had long waiting lists to access care, limited out of hours support and no crisis intervention, an over-reliance on acute care for adults and a lack of mental health services in our community. We still have children in this day and age being admitted to adult units for psychiatric care and there is little joined up thinking between mental health and addiction services. We are still over-reliant on NGOs to provide services that the Government should provide. I could go on.

Sharing the Vision is the new kid on the block. It is labelled as a mental health policy for everyone. The document was recently published and it has some good objectives but none of them is costed. The document will not be worth the paper it is written on unless it is financially or politically backed. Will the Minister tell me when this document will be costed and financed? There are 100 recommendations in Sharing the Vision, of which 40 are labelled as short-term, to be implemented with 18 months. When will these be costed? The programme for Government also states that it will examine the appointment of a national director for mental health. When will this examination happen? Will the new national director of mental health report directly to the CEO of the HSE, because it is vital that that happens?

Ireland is facing a tsunami, as has been said by numerous groups including in the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response, of mental health problems coming down the line due to the coronavirus pandemic. Early indications have shown an increase in suicide and self-harm. Data collection on suicides by Irish hospitals was suspended as a result of lockdown, meaning that there are no current figures on suicide and self-harm rates, according to the national self-harm registry. Is the Minister aware of this? What was the rationale behind this decision? There may be a good reason for this but I am wondering about the rationale behind that. Data collection is vital for future policy, as the Minister knows. Will data collection commence and will it be retrospective so that we have figures to influence policy?

We need to develop a 24-7 crisis intervention service and rehabilitation and recovery times within our communities. Mental health does not finish at certain times of the evening.

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