Seanad debates

Tuesday, 4 October 2011

5:00 am

Photo of Pat O'NeillPat O'Neill (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State. I would like to concentrate on the importance of sport to society in helping to deal with depression and suicide. I compliment the Government on the announcement of a national sports campus on 21 June and the Minister of State's announcement of a national sports facility strategy earlier. Forward planning is needed in sport to provide facilities and so on. The Minister of State is enthusiastic about everything he takes on and sport will benefit from this. I join him in complimenting volunteers. Without them, there would be no sport in the country.

Sport can benefit a person's mental health. Earlier this year, former US President, Bill Clinton, said that Ireland's mission is not just to recover but to keep our heads on straight while we are recovering. The national guidelines for physical activity in Ireland published in 2009 point to physical exercise as key to reducing levels of depression. With the rate of suicide skyrocketing, we must take notice of anything that can help to facilitate better mental health in Irish people. Aside from the more obvious benefits to playing sport such as keeping fit, physical exercise can release endorphins which combat a negative outlook.

In the more isolated regions of Ireland, sport helps to form a community. Teammates stand together in victory and in defeat. It gives back to young men the sense of pride unemployment has taken from them. As Dr. Olivia McElwee, writing in the Journal of the Irish College of General Practitioners, summarised: "Being made unemployed, is to be cast adrift at sea. An important avenue of social interaction is terminated and there is a huge sense of abandonment and a loss of that sense of belonging." Sport is an anchor and it creates a sense of comradeship that outside forces such as unemployment cannot extinguish.

Pride in the jersey is something on which rural communities thrive. It is an incentive for young people to stay in the area which helps to combat isolation. It also provides occupation for those who are unemployed which cannot be underestimated in its value. Sport, therefore, continues to be something that not only benefits people physically, but also their mental well-being, the importance of which cannot be underestimated, particularly during a recession. One need only reflect on the Irish rugby team's efforts in New Zealand at the Rugby World Cup to see how sport can raise spirits, as mentioned by Senator Brennan and others. The excellent performance of the Irish team against the goliath of Australia gave us all a boost and, hopefully, they will do the same again next weekend. This exemplifies the positive impact sport can have on mental health. Could the Minister of State put funding in place for a job scheme or an educational scheme to keep our top GAA players in this country? It is disappointing, especially for small rural parishes, when their best players are forced to emigrate in the current economic climate.

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