Mary Moran (Labour)

I will make two points. On Friday I attended a seminar on suicide awareness organised in Leinster House. I pay tribute to the people who organised this comprehensive and very well run event intended to raise awareness of suicide and heighten our ability to detect it. The course is very well worth taking. I call on the Minister for Health to come to the House for a debate on the continuing stigma attached to mental illness. I refer in particular to the fact that people who suffer from epilepsy or a long-term physical condition are entitled to a disability or long-term illness card whereas people who suffer from depression or any type of mental illness are not so entitled, even though when applying for a job they are obliged to report that they suffer from mental illness.

I refer to a programme aired on RTE last night, "The Secret Millionaire". It was made in my own town and last night I was privileged to be asked to the reception for the cast where I met several of the people who took part in the programme. "The Secret Millionaire" featured the hotelier, John Fitzpatrick, who came to live undercover in the town. The programme also takes place in various other towns. I wish to highlight the absolutely dreadful plight depicted. I am new to the Seanad but one factor that affected me last night was that there are two people, both of whom are disabled and wheelchair users, living in a house that has an upstairs neither person can access although they have been promised a house that is suitably adaptable. I find it abhorrent that in 2011 the lady of this house does not even have a bed she can use. At night her husband takes the bed because he is on oxygen. All through the programme they both smiled and said nothing about this situation but the wife in question must sit in a chair all night and can sleep only by putting her head on a bed. I ask the Minister to come to the House to address such continuing issues of mental health and disability.