Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank her for making herself available again. I commend the Labour Party group for bringing forward this motion, which we will not be opposing. I am glad to have the opportunity to highlight some issues in this area about which we have concerns.

Of all the jobs of the Ministers of State, I would hate to have the Minister's job. There is no better person for the job than her good self but it very difficult because we know there is so much that needs to be done.

I must now criticise the Minister of State's colleagues by stating that mental health is the poor relation when it comes to budgeting. If €30 million is needed, it will be taken either from the Minister of State's budget or she will be last to get it. That is fundamentally wrong and it is a failing of all Governments over the years, not just this one. That will be the constant challenge facing the Minister of State. I wish I could go around to Merrion Street and pull out €100 million for her budget. There has not been such cross-party unity on a policy like A Vision for Change. It is a sad state of affairs when we know so much of what needs to be done and we are not capable of doing it because of money. A councillor in Sligo had a saying that the stones on the road know what needs to be done. It is just a case of getting out and doing it.

As matters stand, a great deal of excellent work is being done in isolation in trying to tackle the many challenges in this area. As John Saunders, the chairman of the Mental Health Commission, said, what we have in many instances is football teams with only half their players. Senator O'Keeffe said that while there are difficulties in securing enough qualified people as quickly as we might like, and I know that some progress is being made on that, what is unforgivable on the funding side is this €35 million, which seems to be the first service to be targeted every year. I promise not to be political in this debate but I read a comment that the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, complained bitterly and colourfully about being kept in the dark on her own budgets. I agree and I can imagine that happening. The point is that it is the first funding to be taken.

The commitment for 2014 in the budget is €20 million, which is 42% less than the €35 million allocation. A commitment has been given that this gap will be made up in 2015. Does that mean that provision will be €50 million in 2015? Has the Minister of State a commitment on the ring-fencing of this funding or will it be the case that when the Minister, Deputy James Reilly, is nursing whatever deficit there will be this time next year, that €35 million allocation will be the first taken and the issues that arise in terms of the implementation of A Vision of Change will be put on the back burner once again because they are seen by so many as expendable. Its implementation is seen as a slow burn, step-by-step exercise and we fool ourselves into thinking we are moving in the right direction, but Rome was not built in a day.

The stigma associated with mental health is a major issue. Senator O'Keeffe said that one in three people who go to a GP attend for a mental health issue, but one in four of all of us will have a mental health issue in our lives. I have had a mental health issue. One in three of us hyperventilate or have panic attacks. Effectively, they signify mental distress and for many people that distress brings on such attacks. One in 20 of us will have suicidal thoughts. If I am filling out a form and I see a question asking if I have ever taken medication for depression, I find that offensive. What way is the answer to that question interpreted by people? What way is it taken into consideration when it comes to giving a person a job or in terms of the attitude taken towards the individual concerned?

In other debates I have highlighted a survey of Deputies taken two or three years ago by a marketing company. I cannot remember the broad purpose of the survey but one of the questions related to mental health and whether people with depression ought to have children, and 70% thought that they should not. That was the view of Deputies taken in a survey in the past three years. What hope have we got in changing the stigma surrounding this issue when we, the legislators, seem to have the view that if somebody is suffering from depression, ideally that person should not have children? It gives a picture of how steep the cliff is that we have to get up in terms of changing the view of mental health and getting and encouraging people to talk. The advertisements on television some years ago were very good in that they encouraged people to mind their mental health. Whether it is depression, the 'flu, arthritis or panic attacks, there are solutions to those problems and we must get that message out to the public. As both Senators mentioned, excellent groups are doing excellent work throughout the country but in isolation. We are not connecting the dots.

On the issue of suicide, Actions Speak Louder than Words was our Fianna Fáil document into which we put seven months work.

Senator John Gilroy has also done a great deal of good work in this area. Our document, which includes a range of useful proposals, was welcomed by the Minister of State's office. Everything is costed, with a total estimate of €90 million as the required funding to reduce the incidence of suicide by 30%. The problem, of course, is that there are 15 people at the Cabinet table seeking to lay claim to any moneys that are available long before they get to the Minister of State. As well as bringing forward legislation in this House to implement our proposals, as we intend to do in due course, we have also given consideration to how they might be funded. It is a question of seeking to harness the goodwill that exists among people who are effectively enjoying themselves as opposed to levying people who are selling alcohol. That touches on the whole off-sales area. Our proposal in this regard would bring in €150 million per annum. Given our estimate of a requirement for €90 million in funding specifically for suicide prevention, that would leave use with €60 million for the implementation of a A Vision for Change. In order to implement those measures, we need political will and leadership from the Taoiseach and his Cabinet.

Between now and this day week, eight men will have taken their lives. I will do everything I can, both inside and outside politics, to see the measures set out in our document implemented by whichever Government or series of Governments will do so. A very courageous young man called Brian McCann assisted with the research into the document to which I referred. Sadly, he lost his life in tragic circumstances a fortnight ago in Sligo, aged just 24. That has made me refocus my efforts to impress upon whomever is in government or has authority in this area to do something other than pay lip service to the need to reduce the incidence of suicide. The capital budget of the National Office for Suicide Prevention has not been spent in its entirety in 2013. Yet, as we saw during the course of our research, many schools have no suicide prevention policy, while those which do, in most cases, drew them up without any contact with the National Office for Suicide Prevention.

I will not go through all the measures set out in the document as it is available to Members. I wish the Minister of State well in her endeavours and we do not intend to oppose the motion. She will always have our co-operation to make progress in this area. I urge her, however, to fight harder for resources, because it is a lack of resources that is ultimately holding back progress. There can be no better person than the Minister of State in her role and she is doing a great job in very difficult circumstances.