Ivor Callely (Fianna Fail)

Other speakers referred to World Mental Health Day. The record will probably show our services are in total disarray and there has been a lack of facilities and progress. My knowledge of services is that we have taken down the walls of Grangegorman and brought into the community people who, in years gone by, were dumped into institutions by their families and they were forgotten about. They are now living in independent units in every parochial area, with a good quality of life. I congratulate those involved in the formulation and application of the policy of independent living for people with an intellectual disability and mental health problems. Equally, I congratulate those bodies such as St. Michael's House, which provides a tremendous service for young people in the area I represent, where it runs a great many community houses.

Members referred to suicide. As I am sure the Opposition will agree, it is fair for the House to acknowledge and applaud the work of one of our parliamentary colleagues, Deputy Dan Neville, for the manner in which he has highlighted issues associated with suicide over a prolonged number of years when people were a little afraid of it or did not want to address the issue. I also applaud others in the community such as Pat and Nuala Matthews, who work on issues associated with autism, and the work of the Irish Society for Autism.

If we have a debate on these issues, we will all have an opportunity to put on record a more balanced and fair reflection of what is happening in the services. We know there are bottlenecks in the health service. One has to congratulate the NTPF——