Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and this opportunity to make a few brief points on this important issue. I look forward to hearing from the professionals in the House who have experience of this issue.

A Vision for Change was embraced by the previous Government as policy and we all want to see it followed. I pay tribute to the former Minister of State, Mr. John Maloney, who in a difficult time did a good job in beginning the processes that set out his ambitions.

Much good work has been done. The Minister of State highlighted a number of new facilities and additional places that have come on-stream. I also welcome the way we are moving away from the old model of daunting buildings that seemed more like something from a horror film rather than a place to care for those with an illness.

The changed focus to a community-based model is welcome, with mental health conditions viewed now as illnesses and the realisation that it is okay not to be okay. The See Change initiative will help to ensure people are accepted if they are depressed or suffering from mental health problems. I recall the advertisements on television and feel they were helpful to those who had difficulties. A close friend suffered from a panic disorder that led to hyperventilation, a condition that affects one in three people. Inevitably people would ask him why he was panicking or depressed. It was like asking what the winning lottery numbers would be.

It is incredible that people would ask those questions of people who are unfortunate enough to have this condition, which is extremely common. It is an issue of informing and educating people and through schemes like See Change we can begin to tackle that.

In regard to the Reach Out scheme, in terms of suicide prevention, while an additional €1 million was made available to it, no amount of money is too great to allocate to addressing this issue in any given year. If there are suicide prevention initiatives that cannot be afforded, I believe any of us in this House would gladly pay more in tax or otherwise, if the money accruing therefrom was ring-fenced specifically for that area. No mountain is too high in tackling that issue. When we consider the number of people who die from suicide every year versus our reaction to dealing with high the incidence of road deaths and the great progress that has been made in reducing the number of road deaths, we should, even in these desperate financial and economic times, ensure that we make whatever resources are required available and ring-fence them specifically for that area.

There is a huge concern about resources. I know the Minister of State's commitment to the job at hand and that if resources were not an issue, she would have the recommendations in A Vision for Change implemented in a very short period. I do not doubt her commitment and I am not being remotely political about this as we all know where we are, why we are there and so on, but the resourcing of the implementation of A Vision for Change overall will be an issue. In the most recent report the implementation body acknowledged and welcomed that funds from the sale of former facilities will be of assistance in implementing A Vision for Change. From my involvement in the auctioneering business, I know that no sale of any property is taking place at the moment. There will not be any money from that source unless from a State institution or a body of some other description that was purchasing these lands. There is no speculative development for former hospitals or this kind of initiative. To claim that resourcing will come from the sale of such facilities concerns me as to the timeframe involved. If we had 20 years, I do not believe we could sell property and get a level of support and resourcing that is needed for the implementation of the ambitions laid out in A Vision for Change.

In addition, the moratorium on staff recruitment in the HSE is very worrying, particularly with 1,000 psychiatric nurses having retired between 2009 and 2010. I am told that another 1,000 may be eligible to retire in the next year or so. That is very worrying. I am sure the Minister of State and the Minister would like to assist in this respect but it will be a question of whether the Minister for Finance will allow it. Is the Minister of State in a position to commit to the preservation of funding attached to any of the mental health posts in which staff may retire in the year ahead to ensure such funding remains in place? That would be extremely important.

The big question is one of resourcing. I am not convinced that A Vision for Change can be implemented with the resourcing available to us. If the Minister of State agrees with that, what are our alternatives? There will have to be a longer timeframe for the overall implementation of it. I have a concern about its resourcing.

I wish to raise a final point, on which I am aware Senator Colm Burke agrees, which perhaps I should have raised on the Order of Business. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children is currently meeting. As is the case with our health services generally where general management and good co-ordination is needed, that is also needed in the management of business of these Houses. The Child Care (Amendment) Bill is being debated in the Dáil, a debate on mental health services is taking place here and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children is meeting in a committee room downstairs. I am sure there are members of that committee here and that Deputies attending that meeting who would like to be present for the debate in the Dáil. We should manage our business a little bit better.

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to make these points and I would appreciate a reply from the Minister of State on them.