Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Just a statement. I thank the Minister of State for her opening speech. I will tip on two issues. I am glad the Minister of State noted in her speech that the availability of staff is and has been an ongoing issue. She stated in her opening statement:

While we do not yet fully understand the impact of Covid-19 on mental health and any subsequent demand on services, it is acknowledged that there have been increased presentations in certain areas, especially in first episode psychosis and eating disorders.

I will quote from a column in The Irish Timesin January as a means of pointing out how serious an issue this is. It relates to the challenge the Minister of State and her Department will face after Covid:

There's a 'tsunami of mental health need' coming when Covid-19 recedes. Ireland's mental health system is not prepared for a crisis - [Why?] Because it was in one before we ever heard of coronavirus.

It continues by quoting Dr. Karen O'Connor, who is a psychiatrist and the national clinical lead for early intervention in psychosis:

I don’t want to overstate it, but it’s based on the numbers that we’re getting out of our early intervention and psychosocial services.

What she means by that is illustrated by a quote from a patient who took part in a survey mentioned in the article in The Irish Times. I want to highlight this quote because it shows how service users are feeling at present. I think we will be in an even bigger crisis after we have come out of the Covid situation. According to this patient, as quoted in The Irish Times:

I was convinced I was starting to have a psychotic episode and I did everything they tell you ...  [I contacted the HSE funded text service] 50808 who told me to contact the Caredoc or 999 ... I called 999 who told me to come into the hospital where my usual psychiatrist was on call. She proceeded to tell me I need to learn coping mechanisms ... and that they couldn’t do anything because I’m not suicidal and sent me home. Since then I’ve had nurses calling and doing the checklist shit with me every day or so, but they don't seem to have any plan to stop me feeling this way.

I could go through the figures of 10,000 and 20,000, but instead I will explain what I am really worried about. When I was brought up, my parents used to tell me not to worry about what would happen tomorrow but to plan how I would deal with it. Over recent months, I have been speaking to laypeople and people in various services who are genuinely terrified that when Covid is over, there will be knock-on effects on mortgage relief, marriage break-ups, family break-ups, damaged children and other effects across the board. We need to have a plan. We can work on all side of the House on this. I appeal to the Minister of State and her Department to start getting ready now for what will happen in 12 or 18 months' time, when this will be a serious tsunami. I noted a recent survey in the US which found that there has been a 42% increase in mental health issues and anxiety among those surveyed. We are no different from anybody else. We are a small country. We have been hit harder. It is time to prepare for the tsunami that is coming. Let us hope we will not be here in 12 months' time saying, "We hate to say we told you so, but we told you so." We do not want that. We want to work together to get a better mental health service.

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