Eamon Scanlon (Fianna Fail)

I wish to put on record an acknowledgement of the great work done by the mental health associations across the country. My home town has a mental health association and a young mental health association. Those groups did significant work to help remove the stigma attached to mental health, such as visiting patients in the hospitals. Young people aged from 16 years upwards were involved in the association which did a fine job in bringing the issue of mental health out into the open. It taught people to respect this complex illness and those affected by it.

It is a very difficult illness to treat. In the past, a terrible taboo was attached to mental illness. Services for those with mental illness have improved over the years even though there is more to be done. The use of group homes is an excellent idea. There are three group homes and a day centre in my home town. People who in the past would have lived in a mental institution for the rest of their lives are enabled to live in group homes. They can lead a normal life, go about their business, go to mass, travel and meet people. An excellent service is provided for them. The day centre arrangement allows patients in rural areas to be collected daily. They are given their lunch and are seen by a doctor on a daily basis. Those not attending a day centre but living at home are attended daily by mental health nurses. I know some nurses and they are dedicated to their patients. They will call to see their patients if need be at 9 a.m. or at 11 p.m. to talk to them and help them remain living in their own homes.

Thankfully, none of my family has been affected by mental illness but it can happen to anybody. A number of years ago, a good friend of mine dropped dead at 44 years of age. He had six young children, the eldest of whom was 15 years of age at the time. This young man eventually went to college and was doing very well. Unfortunately, he was the person who found his father dead; his father walked out of the house and collapsed and the young man walked out after him. Three years later and for no apparent reason, the young man was struck down with this illness. He was taken to Sligo General Hospital where he was well treated. The staff were concerned about him. I remember the anguish of his mother when she was informed that he needed to be admitted to the local psychiatric hospital, St. Columba's. She suffered great anguish in making that decision. She believed he would be stigmatised for the rest of his life because he had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. I visited him on a number of occasions in the hospital. There was no question that he needed the treatment and the staff were excellent.

Traditionally, mental institutions were old, dreary places which suffered from under-investment over the years. Mental health is the poor relation of the health services. It has been proposed that a new psychiatric unit be built on the campus of Sligo General Hospital and this is being considered by the Department of Health and Children. I ask the Minister of State to examine this proposal and ensure it is advanced as much as possible. Where possible, those services and new facilities should be provided on the campus of general hospitals, with access to the medical services of the general hospital. This would help abolish the stigma attached to mental illness and patients would not regard themselves as being different from everybody else. Funding should be made available because the lack of finance which was the case over the past 50 years has not helped that service. I acknowledge the service is improving and I have no doubt the Minister of State will continue to ensure that there is an improvement.