Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I must now deal with a postponed division relating to amendment No. 1, tabled by Sinn Féin, to the Fianna Fáil motion re mental health services reports. On Tuesday, 2 July, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to," a division was claimed. In accordance with Standing Order 70(2), that division must take place now.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Normally, amendment No. 2 would fall but, as it adds words to the motion, I ask the Labour Deputies to indicate if it is being moved.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

(a) To insert the following after “dietetics and seating assessments;”:

“ — that according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014, social inequalities are associated with higher rates of mental health difficulties, with more unequal societies experiencing greater rates of mental health distress; and

— over 90 per cent of mental health needs can be successfully treated within a primary care setting;”;

(b) To insert the following after “level recommended by A Vision for Change;”:

“— according to a 2014 WHO report, suicide remains the biggest cause of death among young people in Ireland aged between 15 and 24;

— the 2018 interim report of the National Suicide Research Foundation acknowledges that young people across the country are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and stress in their everyday lives;

— only 11 counties in the State have out-of-hours mental health support services for children; and

— spending on the delivery of mental health services was only 6 per cent of the total health budget in Budget 2019, which is comparatively lower than in countries with better developed and better performing mental health systems such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom which spend between 11-13 per cent respectively;”; and

(c) To insert the following after “best practice across the whole country;”:

“— a paradigm shift in the delivery of mental health services from an over-reliance on delayed, reactive and comparatively expensive acute services to an increased support for cost-effective proactive, integrated and community based early interventions;

— the Government to proactively engage in the prevention of mental ill-health, as opposed to its current symptomatic response, through the promotion of economic, social and environmental policies which holistically support and prioritise the long-term wellbeing of society over short-term economic growth measures;

— the Government to acknowledge spending on mental health, particularly spending which is focused on the promotion of positive mental health and primary level interventions, as an investment in the prevention of mental health difficulties and societal wellbeing rather than a pure economic cost;

— the Government to ensure that as part of Budget 2020, funding of mental health services as a proportion of the total health budget raises from 6 per cent to 8.24 per cent in line with A Vision for Change; and

— a streamlined, free referral service between different providers (voluntary, public and private) both within and between adult and child mental health services;”.