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

If this was a real roadmap for living with Covid, I am afraid we would be turning into dead end after dead end when it comes to people seeking supports for mental health. I am a member of the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response. I listened to expert after expert tell the committee that we are facing an avalanche of mental health issues. The experts stated that mental health services that were already out of date and not fit for purpose prior to Covid were facing unprecedented demands on their services. The many years of underinvestment in mental health supports are coming home to roost.

The previous Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, spouted at every opportunity about how he got €1 billion spent on mental health last year. I remind the Minister that that is the same amount that was spent in 2009. The fact that there has been no substantial increase in mental health supports for more than a decade shows the indifference of the Government and previous Governments to mental health supports.

Tonight on RTÉ1 there will be a special broadcast of a programme entitled "The Next Normal". It will relate how 33% or one third of the people surveyed for the programme have suffered with their mental health in the past six months. Mental health providers have stated that they are inundated with people crying out for help. The warning signs are stark, but there is no mention of mental health in the winter plan that has been developed to prepare for and manage the anticipated pressures this winter. That plan will be discussed later today but I will not have the opportunity to contribute on it. Where is the winter plan for mental health? Where is the roadmap for mental health supports? It is simply not good enough that we are forced to rely on non-governmental organisations and charities to plug the gap in State mental health supports. Only yesterday, the St. John of God group, which has provided mental health supports for more than a century, had to give notice to the HSE that it can no longer operate due to its financial difficulties.

We are facing a tsunami of mental health issues due to Covid-19. Not only is the Government standing on the beach watching the wave approaching, it is also burying its head in the sand.

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