Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will raise several matters in the short space of time but I have one specific question for which I will leave time for a reply. Covid-19 has exposed many gaps in our mental health services. We always knew there were significant gaps but they have been exposed even more. I have spoken to many people but never seen such levels of worry and depression across so many different cohorts in our country. It is affecting all of us but particularly certain cohorts and I will speak about some of them.

The levels of social isolation, loneliness, anxiety and work pressure - or pressure from a lack of work - are really coming home to roost. I met a young man yesterday who goes for two 10 km runs each day as it is the main activity keeping him going. I am deeply worried about the time younger people are spending online into the early hours of the morning. If they are of schoolgoing age, they may not be able to deal with schoolwork.

There are some significant issues that will cause us problems for many years. There are some good things that have come out of Covid, in relation video therapies. They should be used more often and should be expanded into the future. However, in respect of our young people and those working from home, I have serious worries and concerns about the legacy of what is happening. Working from home is of huge benefit to all of us and to our country, but there is an always-on culture. By God, in this House we could all do with learning from it. The always-on culture needs to be addressed, because social media is taking over our lives. I know it is not in the Minister of State's area, but we also need the right to switch off. We have produced legislation on this issue. The right to switch off for people who are working from home must be prioritised when we get on top of this pandemic.

On the issue of elderly people, my mother turned 80 during this pandemic. At the beginning of last year she was about to go on her 15th consecutive trip to work in the orphanages in Belarus. There is a marked difference between her life standards at the beginning of last year and the beginning of this year and in what she can do, as somebody who is the most active person in the community that I can think of. There are hundreds of thousands of people like her. The impact that is having on the mental health and well-being of elderly people is incredibly bad and sad. They are the group of people who have paid their taxes and have done everything. I really feel that there must be intervention mechanisms.

I want to raise an issue concerning those who are bereaved. Unfortunately, I lost my mother-in-law very suddenly in the last couple of weeks. This issue was brought to attention by my colleague, Deputy Sherlock. I have now experienced it, along with my wife and her family. It concerns the amount of bureaucracy in respect of having to contact so many different State organisations in the case of bereavement. We should forget about politics. I ask the Minister of State to lead the charge on this issue. It is Deputy Sherlock's idea. There should be a one-stop-shop whereby if somebody passes away, family or next of kin can register the passing as part of a central process and it can be filtered out across all State agencies and potentially utilities also. I would be very happy if the Minister of State would commit to that today. It is an excellent idea and it would help people who are dealing with bereavement. During the pandemic, it is much worse. I have experienced it myself. It is so hard to grieve. It has such a lasting on people's mental health in respect of the loss and the continuous process of grieving, which goes on much longer and in a much more difficult way, because of Covid.

There are two final issues I would like to raise. My colleague, Eoin Barry, from Laois, who works in the area, has raised the issue of eating disorders. He has seen a significant increase in eating disorders during the pandemic. Obviously, the period from a psychiatry diagnosis and the length of service requirement afterwards is quite long. I ask the Minister of State what has been done on this issue.

Finally, I would like to raise a local issue. There was a recent case concerning a middle-aged lady with some psychiatric and addiction issues. The family situation was not good and she kept coming back to the house, being taken away by the police, put in an ambulance and sent to University Hospital Limerick. Over the course of a few days, this happened repeatedly because she was not being sectioned. I know that it is difficult to section people. Where there are serious addiction issues, this cat and mouse game cannot go on, whereby a person is taken away by gardaí, the person cannot or should not put in a cell, he or she is sent off to an acute setting in a Covid situation and then the person is sent home. I will pass the details onto the Minister of State. It is happening all over the country. It is ridiculous.

See this speech in context