Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have an opportunity to contribute on such an important motion. It is undeniable that Covid-19 has had an impact on the mental health of many people, and this has taken many different forms, including loneliness, social isolation, stress, financial pressures, anxiety. These are just some examples. My colleagues and I, in the Regional Group, are very pleased that the Government agrees that we need to ensure that mental health is an essential part of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The response should ensure that measures protect not only the population's physical health, but its mental health on an equal basis. Covid-19 is a public health issue, and I believe that all of us in this House recognise that, but we have differing opinions on how best to deal with it. We must not allow our response to Covid to cause more knock-on problems than it solves.

Unfortunately, we have a mental health system that is not adequately prepared to cope with the significant increase in demand that has been experienced over the past few months. Underfunding of mental health services prior to the pandemic shows clearly that the budget for mental health is struggling to meet the population's needs. The pandemic should not be used as an excuse to deny, delay or curtail access to mental healthcare and services. In my local CAMHS unit in Wexford, where the staff there are Trojan-esque in their commitment to patients, no child psychologist or dietician has yet been appointed, and this situation has been ongoing for over two years. I have seen, first hand, the devastation caused when early intervention is not achieved with these children and they move straight into adult services. Funding is in an investment in these children's futures, and we must not take that away from them. Long before Covid-19 was ever heard of, there was a mental health epidemic and it is obvious that the pandemic has served to magnify this fact.

On the specifics of the motion, we are calling on the Government to publish all available data on mental health during the pandemic. We want to ensure that mental health is a central part of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This means taking more than just the potential spread of the virus into account when deciding on what activities to ban people from doing. For example, banning someone from visiting a neighbour who lives on their own may help reduce the chances of the virus spreading, but it increases loneliness and social isolation. Human beings are social beings, and thrive in the company of others, heartened by their love and support. Christmas is one of the loneliest times for older people. Likewise, how much stress, anxiety and depression has been caused by ordering businesses to close? How many people have been plunged into a state of financial despair as a result of Covid restrictions?

We call on the Government in the motion to design all communications to be sensitive of their potential impact on people's mental health, for example, by communicating empathy for their distress and including advice for their emotion well-being. With this in mind, a special mental health task force must be set up without delay to ensure the safe, efficient roll-out of the vaccine programme, and to ensure that all services are provided and the needs of patients are met. "Scaremongering" is a word that has been used many times to describe the matter in which Covid-19 information has been communicated to the people. We constantly hear bad and worrying news, and the worst-case scenarios are forecast. However, do we hear a fair share of positive news? It is five months since we received an update on the number of recoveries from Covid-19. That was on 20 July. Why have we not received such an update in five months? I recognise that the bad news is being used in a way to try to get people to take all of the restrictions seriously, but I also recognise that the constant drip feed of misery and doomsday scenario information takes its toll on people. I ask the Government to ensure that clear data is provided, not just on recoveries, but also on asymptomatic cases, and rather than reporting deaths related to the virus, report deaths from the virus to allow people to understand more.

These are just some of the reasons we are calling for mental health to be a central consideration of Government when deciding on any further Covid-19 measures. I do not have time to comment on each line of the motion now, but I am very pleased that members of all parties and none recognise the benefits of supporting the motion to help protect the mental health of our people.

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