Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for his presentation. I thank Senator Glynn for requesting this debate. The debate is worthwhile because this is an area that has been neglected. I am not sure why this is so, but perhaps it is because men have not called strongly for debate and necessary services. Traditionally women's voices have been stronger in the this regard and we call on a regular basis for improved health services such as breast or cervical cancer screening, etc. We talk about these issues regularly. Senator Glynn is right that we should call for more services for men. We should all be treated equally. If we do not look after everybody in the community, society suffers. I agree the area has been neglected and needs to be addressed urgently.

The Minister of State made a startling statement in his presentation. He said young Irish men are almost four times more likely to die prematurely than their female counterparts and currently have the second highest suicide rate of the 30 OECD member states. It is shocking that we are the second highest, but this comes as no surprise to us. We need to look deeply at this issue and tackle the problem of depression. Why is it that more young men are at higher risk of taking their own lives? This is a serious problem we need to address.

I am also concerned about obesity among young men. Whatever we say about men in this regard, it also applies to women. Obesity is certainly a problem and we need to start tackling it. We need to build a healthier nation and target people at a very young age by getting them involved in sport. We need to encourage them to continue participating in sport throughout their lives so they will remain healthy.

Reference was made to men's sexual health, which needs to be considered. It is an area of great importance because young people, both male and female, are taking very serious risks. Bearing in mind that many young people are very responsible, we should note that many young men tend to leave responsibility for contraception to women. This is not good enough. We are not just talking about preventing pregnancy but also want to ensure people are healthy and do not contract sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. It is very important that we do much more to educate young people about their sexual health so they will take responsibility for themselves and not expect others to do so for them.

We have been shy when talking about and advertising sexual health. We need to do much more and I hope the Minister of State will make people feel more open in this regard in order that the subject can be discussed in schools. We need to promote sexual health widely and tell young people they must take responsibility for their sexual health and protect themselves. By doing so, they will also protect others.

It is a well-known fact that where there is poverty, both men and women take less care of themselves. There are many reasons for this. One reason is obviously financial in that people will forego going to the doctor when money is scarce. Even if they have a medical card they tend to ignore their health until they develop a serious problem. We need to tackle this and ensure that as many people as possible get a medical card so they will go to a medical practitioner early rather than wait until their medical condition becomes serious.

Let me raise the issue of sudden adult death syndrome, as mentioned by Senator Browne. It is a growing problem and I have been affected by it in that a very close friend, a very fit young person, died suddenly. The syndrome usually affects very fit people. If they were not so fit, their heart problems or other conditions would be noticed earlier. I welcome any research done in this area to ensure we prevent the growing problem of sudden death among young people.

I welcome the programme the Minister of State is to introduce, much of which will involve an awareness campaign. I believe there was an advertisement some time ago asking men whether they had had their MOT this year. This is catchy and represents the kind of initiative we need to take.

Women are used to going for their annual check-up. Men should get into this frame of mind but we must tell them they should do so. They should have one at various stages of their lives. I do not want to pick out any single age group as it is important that people of every age group look after themselves.

Prostate cancer is easily dealt with if detected early. It is important to let men know the symptoms so they will recognise them. Much of the funding should go towards awareness campaigns, be they on television, in newspapers or on posters. This is what needs to be done and I welcome the Minister of State's initiative.