Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I am delighted at today's opportunity to speak on men's health. I always enjoy listening to Senator Ryan, and I smiled at his opening remarks when he spoke of men being a big bunch of cowards pretending that nothing is wrong. It is not only men who have created that state of affairs. Women like men to be cowards, since they like to mother, mind and nurse them, pretending that women know all there is to know about health. They will always keep men as little boys.

There is also the attitude that "big boys don't cry". If a man complains of feeling unwell, women, myself included, are a little impatient. We think that they should get on with it, since they are always moaning and groaning. I believe what Senator Ryan is saying. We need to change the mindset. Teenage girls will start talking about having a smear test from the age of 18 or 20. That is when they would start attending for annual or biannual tests. Boys would never think that they should do anything of that kind. Self-examination and so on would be thrown out. It is not something for boys or men to do.

I made a telephone call this morning and was very interested to hear from a GP friend in a very busy practice in Tallaght that he had conducted a survey of 100 men. It took him four years to carry out. They picked 100 men at random and asked them to take part in the survey. They were brought in for regular health check-ups. They interviewed the small minority that did not take up the call to come in, asking them why. The answer given constantly was that they did not think that the GP would be interested in knowing about their health or that there was any kind of partnership whereby the GP might wish to know about their health. The person conducting the survey found that those men were terribly lonely. Once they got talking to that person, however, they wanted to tell all regarding their health, problems and worries. They were extremely lonely men.

The point has been made time and again about the dangers of alcohol and cigarettes, and we cannot bring that home clearly enough. Alcohol is a drug that destroys young men's lives. It is affordable and easily accessible, and it does not matter if a young man is drinking, since he is simply seen as macho, which is acceptable. It does not matter if a middle-aged man does it, and he may be even more at risk. On their way home from work they will stop off and meet friends for a few drinks. They probably eat late at night. That is a most unhealthy lifestyle, particularly now that our work environment is changing. We are working fewer hours. We do not work from 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Flexi-time is available. People have a different lifestyle.

While making notes on the way men's health is different from that of women, the area of networking came to mind. Women network so easily, as Senator Ryan and others said. A woman will have lunch with a friend and talk about the lovely pair of shoes she saw in Carl Scarpa. She might say, "I'm thinking of buying them but they are a little high and the old back is acting up. I'm suffering some pain. I might go to the doctor because it has been bothering me for a while. It could be my kidneys but it could be my uterus". It is easy for women to talk about issues like that. What starts off as something trivial will suddenly become very intense and personal. Women trust women when it comes to telling them the most intimate details about their own health.

Sadly, men lack that type of relationship with other men. People will ask someone whether they went for counselling. Women do not need counsellors because we talk to other women. Women listen to women. Men are probably more inclined to need the help of psychologists and counsellors because they do not open up enough with women or men they know. There is nothing wrong with that. I was sad to hear a speaker say earlier that Johnny was stupid because he would not tell his mother that he was feeling unwell. It is nothing to do with stupidity. It is to do with the mindset and the way boys have been reared.

I was interested to hear that men view themselves mechanically when it comes to their health. That is true. Other speakers said that men will take the car for the MOT and make sure their car is okay but their own engine could be falling out, so to speak, and they would not bother going to see a doctor. Senator Ryan talked about the macho element in men, that men are faster drivers and not careful drivers like women. I have been a passenger many times in a man's car and he will shout at the woman driving the car in front of him. I shout at them as well but he will say, "I bet it is a woman driving that car". I am always glad to say, when I look at the other driver as we pass by, "You are wrong. It is being driven by a man". Men are all go. Things do not move quickly enough for them.

With regard to men not going to see their general practitioner as an interested party who will listen to their health problems, and that came from a GP, that attitude must change. Perhaps, through the Health Service Executive, we could encourage GPs to get the message across, whether by way of a notice in their waiting rooms or some other way, that they are interested in talking and listening to men.

Men need less emotional support than women, but that is not to say they do not need emotional support. They do, but men believe they are not getting that from their GP. If they were to go to their GP, however, and talk about their problems they would probably find that would change.

Screening is very important. Last week, we had a meeting with the diabetes society and some of the associated medics who treat diabetics. They were talking about treating 100 patients with blindness brought on by diabetes, which cost the State €250 million. For that €250 million they could have screened many more than 100 people and prevented blindness. That is such a shame. I realise the Minister cannot provide funding to screen for every condition but it should be considered for the type of conditions we could screen for at a low cost and thereby prevent terrible effects like blindness.

I was interested to read lately about a survey carried out in County Mayo, which I tried to find but could not. The results of the survey showed that there is more obesity in pre-school children than in children in primary school. That is a startling fact.

Men are equally as interested in their health as women and if they are given good news they will build on that. Some of my men friends will tell me that they went to the doctor and got the all-clear in terms of heart rate, blood pressure and so on and they are delighted with themselves. With regard to the negative effects, some television advertisements for cars, IT and so on portray younger men as being a bit silly. There is one advertisement — I think it is for a Renault car — in which the man is made out to be a fool. That type of stereotyping of young males is wrong because they are very impressionable. There is much more I wanted to say but I will conclude as we are running out of time.