Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate Deputy Butler on her reappointment as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and her new position as Government Chief Whip. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important subject in this Chamber. It is personally very important to me. I also acknowledge the Government's work in placing this on the schedule so early in this new Dáil term and giving us the chance to speak on mental health. In this country we need an open and honest discussion on mental health, and it is a very good thing, both in terms of policy and law governing the area and for us as a society, to see our politicians stand up and speak on this issue in the Dáil, possibly de-stigmatising it for people sitting at home who may see this or who may be experiencing mental health difficulties.

On policy, law and legislation in this area, while it is the Minister of State's and her Department's responsibility, we need to acknowledge that mental health and the issues around it are far beyond one Minister, one Bill or one section of Government. It is something that every Department, every agency and every Minister in this State needs to be cognisant of. While access to services is so important, it is a matter of mental health across a broad sector of society for those coming to my office who are struggling to get payments to which they should be entitled, those who are waiting on appeals and farmers who are waiting for payments under serious pressure. I do not believe mental health across all those aspects is seen across all sectors of the Government, and we need to work on how things are being siloed in this country.

As regards the Mental Health Bill, reform in this area is long overdue. I know the Minister of State is aware of that, and I acknowledge her work on the Mental Health Bill to date. I appreciate the fact that it got to Second Stage in the last Dáil before its dissolution. I also welcome the fact that on page 95 of the programme for Government we have stated that this is a priority for us and that the passage of the Bill is essential in modernising our mental health services. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform legislation in this area, and it is the first major overhaul of policy in this area in 20 years in the State. I had intended on coming in here today, when I had written this contribution, seeking an update on the Government's spring legislative programme. I see the Minister of State has managed to do work on that from her seat here in the Chamber today. I welcome that the Bill is now placed on Committee Stage on our legislative programme. That is very important.

I wish to discuss social media in this country, which Deputy Daly touched on. The major social media platforms that are both operating and based in this country and this city are failing many of our young people. They are hiding from their responsibilities when it comes to the regulation of their platforms. Bot and anonymous accounts, in particular, are doing untold damage in being allowed to say what they want whenever they want and about whomever they want. The allowance of threatening, abusive and intimidatory behaviour online is doing untold damage, particularly to young people in this country - but not just to young people. We are looking at anxiety rates and depression rates rising among young people. We deserve a lot better from our social media companies and we should demand a lot better. As regards the allowance of bot and anonymous accounts in this country, we see it as politicians who are posting on social media and in the abuse we get, which should not be acceptable. It seems a norm in society today. It is young people in particular who are so susceptible to that and so easily influenced by that. They are being let down by those social media companies.

Finally, as regards the likes of ASIST and safeTALK training, there is massive space in this country for the roll-out of those programmes on a wider scale within our communities. I was trained in applied suicide intervention skills in a previous job I had working in student accommodation. I had to use that training on quite a number of occasions doing suicide interventions with people who were my peers at the time, the same age group as me. These suicide first aid courses are desperately needed in our communities. My own community, Nenagh, is experiencing a very difficult time at the moment, with a number of suicides in recent times. It impacts a community desperately. The feeling or sense of despair in our communities when this happens is atrocious. We need to encourage our community organisations to roll out these suicide first aid courses, similar to how we have first aid responders in other walks of life. If the HSE could work with communities in doing that on a much larger scale, it would be really beneficial on a community level.

See this speech in context