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

I welcome the Government not opposing this Bill and I appreciate the support this Bill has received across the House, or perhaps I should say across the convention centre.

I acknowledge some of the points the Minister of State raised and her observations on the Bill. There was a similar Bill previously and I acknowledge some of the reasons which were stated regarding why that Bill fell. This Bill, however, now progresses to Committee Stage. I am happy that it will get the legislative scrutiny it rightly deserves and that it will become legally robust, as the Minister of State put it.

I also acknowledge and welcome the Minister of State's appointment of the independent chair of the monitoring committee for the implementation of Sharing the Vision.

That will help Sharing the Vision move forward. I also call on the Minister of State to ask the HSE to appoint a national director for mental health because that is one of the things that will help restore parity for mental health. The Minister of State's colleague, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, mentioned having different waiting lists in different areas for CAMHS. We need to start moving away from this postcode politics. We need the same level of service no matter what area one lives in or what part of the country one is from. That is another way of restoring parity for mental health.

This week marks a year since I was elected to the Dáil in a by-election. It has been an honour to serve in this House over the past year but it has sometimes been very frustrating as well. Our previous private Members' Bill did not relate to the Minister's remit but it was about community safety. Despite Government Deputies nodding their heads, agreeing with me and saying that legislation was good and valid, it was still voted down. The reason it was voted down was because of party politics and because it was a Sinn Féin motion. I am glad to see that party politics were put aside today and that this Bill will go to Committee Stage. I said in my opening statement that I would work with the Minister of State, who is responsible for mental health, in Opposition, that I would hold the Government to account and that I would propose tangible and real solutions to issues relating to mental health. Today is one of those days when something tangible happens. Today, we did not just speak about change, we acted. We listened to the people who are struggling with mental health issues and acted on their behalf. As has been noted, this Bill is not a panacea for all the problems with mental health services, but it will start the process of making things better.

To all the children mentioned earlier who are waiting for mental health appointments in CAMHS, we hear you. We also hear the parents of those children. To the children who are still being committed to adult psychiatric wards, we hear you. To the man whose story was reported this week, who was left naked in his own urine in a prison cell, we hear you. The voices of those experiencing additional mental health issues due to Covid are being heard today. To those experiencing eating disorders, we hear you. To those who have tried and failed to access services outside the nine-to-five and to anyone who has been affected by suicide, we absolutely hear you. Some people are experiencing mental health issues for the first time, a large number of which are related to Covid, so to anyone who is feeling worried, anxious, depressed, upset or fearful, we hear you today.

The Minister of State and her colleague said that this Bill is broad, aspirational and hopeful. Mental health is such a huge issue and crosses so many spectrums that this needs to be broad. As for being aspirational, we in Sinn Féin aspire to promote real, tangible solutions to mental health issues and we make no apologies for that. We will certainly never apologise for offering hope to anybody. We may all be in the same storm when it comes to mental health but we are not all in the same boat. Parity is the boat that will result in everybody being treated the same when it comes to health problems, whether mental or physical.

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