Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to address the House on this important subject and to outline the work being done in the area of public health and well-being and the national drug strategy to support our young people. Healthy Ireland: A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-2025, which was launched in March 2013, is a national framework action to improve the health and well-being of the country over the coming generation. Since last year, it has been further supported by Healthy Ireland's strategic action plan, which provides direction for implementation of Healthy Ireland's plan from 2021 to 2025. Healthy Ireland takes a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to improve health and well-being and to tackle the major lifestyle issues that lead to negative health outcomes, namely, smoking, alcohol, poor diet, physical inactivity and obesity. Positive mental health is a key element of health and well-being and of the work of Healthy Ireland.

The report of last year's Healthy Ireland survey presented key findings on social connectedness and mental health in the context of the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic. Needless to say, the necessary Covid-19 restrictions had a significant impact on people's social interactions and consequently on their mental health. While the restrictions were absolutely necessary to control the spread of the virus, social interaction is a very important part of our lives. Inevitably, there was a negative impact on people's mental well-being. Over 80% of respondents reported that they were less socially connected as a result of the restrictions. Almost one third of respondents reported that their mental health had worsened since the start of the public health restrictions.

As part of our response to these challenges, we have provided guidance and support for people to manage both their physical and mental well-being through public health information campaigns such as the In This Together and Keep Well campaigns, and through information networks including key organisations working with vulnerable people. Working with partner organisations, such as An Garda Síochána, NGOs and Volunteer Ireland, there was a particular emphasis on identifying and supporting those most at risk of isolation. I wish to mention the support provided by the HSE to a number of organisations working in the area of youth mental health, such as Jigsaw, Childline and SpunOut. The HSE website yourmentalhealth.ieprovides information on a range of mental health support options available via phone, text and online.

The area of sexual health can be a source of anxiety for young people in particular, and counselling services are provided by a number of support organisations, such as SpunOut, and services are also provided by the LGBTI+ community, LGBT Ireland and BeLonGTo. These organisations are all supported by the HSE and further resources are available online through the HSE's website sexualwellbeing.ieand B4uDecide. I also wish to mention the great work being carried out by the children and young people's services committees, which have been developing and delivering youth-specific campaigns to support young people's physical and mental health and well-being.

One of the most exciting and growing areas of healthcare in recent years is social prescribing. Social prescribing is one of the means by which we can achieve a greater degree of social connectedness for people and counteract isolation, thereby improving mental health. Social prescribing is a simple but profound idea linking patients and primary care with sources of support within the community, which can include arts and creativity, physical activity, peer and group support, green activity and computerised therapy. It has been shown to result in positive emotional, cognitive and social outcomes, especially by reducing social exclusion for disadvantaged, isolated, lonely and vulnerable people, many of whom experience depression and anxiety.

The Sláintecare integration fund is supporting seven social prescribing programmes based in Dublin, Waterford, Cavan, Monaghan, Sligo, Leitrim, Wicklow, Cork and Kerry. I am pleased to inform the House that work is also under way on the development of a national mental health promotion plan. In the context of mental health and well-being, there is a growing body of evidence at international level of the benefits to individuals and society at large when positive mental health is promoted and integrated across the life course.

To inform the development of the plan, consultation with key stakeholders, including Government Departments, the HSE and the voluntary and charitable organisations that are broadly involved in mental health promotion, was required. This consultation has now been completed and a report is being finalised.

In addition to the consultation process, an evidence synthesis is also being undertaken. This will provide a summary of the international evidence on the impact of mental health promotion interventions to inform the new action plan and should be completed in February.

Last June, we launched the national healthy campus framework. This will help the higher education institutions across Ireland to embed health and well-being in the campus life of staff and students. Promoting positive mental health is a core element of all health and well-being activities on these campuses. A national co-ordinator will be appointed to drive the initial roll-out of the healthy campus framework and charter and to support institutions in sharing learning and good practice. This post will be advertised shortly.

One of the key priorities of the Healthy Ireland framework is the promotion of physical activity. Get Ireland Active!, the national physical activity plan published in 2016, contains 60 actions intended to promote increased physical activity levels across the population. Presentations at last year's Irish Physical Activity Research Collaboration conference made clear that regular physical activity can be effective in reducing the severity of symptoms associated with anxiety and depression. Research carried out by Dublin City University regarding the Department of Education's Active School Flag programme, which is co-sponsored by Healthy Ireland, indicates the positive effects of this programme on school activity levels, but also on attendance, behaviour and learning outcomes. I assure the House that Healthy Ireland will continue to work to improve the mental and physical health of our citizens.

With regard to the national drugs strategy, a lot has been done to tackle the issue of drug use among our young people. The consequences of drug use can affect a young person's health and undermine his or her academic engagement and, sadly, may result in serious injury or death. We know that young people are most likely to experiment with drugs. It is therefore important that we collectively address these issues. It is important to consider some of the clinical advice and data that are available regarding the use of drugs, including cannabis. Last year, information fact sheets made available by the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland showed that one in five adults who use cannabis are likely to have a dependence on it. However, the risk of dependence for our young people is even more pronounced, with one in three young people likely to become addicted if using cannabis weekly or more often. In addition, presentations to the child and adolescent addiction services indicate that cannabis is the main substance causing harm for those under the age of 18. This is a matter of serious concern.

Our national drugs strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery, aims to promote prevention initiatives. It states that substance misuse prevention strategies need to be evidence-based and to target families, schools and communities in order to be an effective way of promoting health and well-being among the general population. The first strategic priority following the recently completed mid-term review of our national drugs strategy is focused on the protection of children and young people from the dangers posed by drug use. It is of utmost importance that we do everything in our power to protect young people by increasing their resilience, strengthening their life skills and promoting healthy life choices. The issue of harms caused to children by drug use is a priority for me. The newly identified strategic priority aligns with Article 33 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which sets out:

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures [...] to protect children from the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances [...] and to prevent the use of children in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances.

A multifaceted approach involving online resources, in-school interventions and targeted awareness campaigns can provide the necessary education to minimise the risk of substance misuse among young people. I recently approved the launch of the prevention and education strategic initiative and funding programme, which will increase the focused delivery of evidence-based prevention programmes among the school-aged population. There will be a number of funding streams within the programme through which we will focus on school-based interventions such as Know the Score, Ireland's first national evidence-based resource on alcohol and drugs for senior cycle students. The overall aim of the resource is to enable young people to make conscious and informed decisions about alcohol and drugs. The programme for Government commits to building on recent initiatives at junior and senior cycle and to supporting secondary schools in introducing drugs and alcohol awareness programmes such as Know the Score, with particular regard to the hazards of casual drugs use. Not only do we have national policy guidance in this area, but the EU drugs strategy also includes prevention and education for our younger people in its strategic priorities. It also recognises that families play a significant role in drug prevention and helping to keep young people safe from the misuse of drugs and alcohol. Recognising this, the HSE has created a guide for parents, which is available at drugs.ie, that helps parents to talk to their children about the risks associated with drug use in a proactive way.

Education and awareness programmes that are delivered alongside other measures and that build life skills and confidence are far more likely to be effective in encouraging protective and healthy behaviour than stand-alone measures. I am fully committed to supporting our young people and increasing the level of education on drugs and the dangers of drug use in Ireland.

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