Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement on Tuesday by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, of funding of €5 million for a new centralised Special Olympics Ireland facility at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown. The new centralised headquarters will bring together the Dublin, Leinster and eastern region of Special Olympics Ireland offices. I have been working closely with the Minister and Special Olympics Ireland over the past two years to see the project come to fruition. Locating the Special Olympics Ireland offices at the National Sports Campus, alongside the FAI, the Institute of Irish Sport and the Irish Sport headquarters, makes it part our finest sporting facilities. It is a mark of equality for Irish sport and a good day for disability.

Special Olympics has long deserved this form of recognition and I am delighted that after many years of hard work it has received the go-ahead to complete its build-out in Abbotstown. The timing is appropriate, just ahead of the National Special Olympic Games in Limerick next month.

This Friday is national time to talk day where everyone is encouraged to make time, at some point in their day, to discuss mental health with family, friends and colleagues. Positive mental health is a topic we often discuss in this Chamber. I encourage everyone to take this discussion tomorrow outside of this room and to promote it in their own communities, not only on Friday, but throughout the coming months. The national time to talk day is taking place against the backdrop of the annual green ribbon campaign which promotes discussion of mental health issues during the month of May. In recent years we have reduced the stigma attached to mental health issues and have witnessed an improvement in discussions on the issue, but we have a long way to go. Promoting discussion on mental health should not just be between families and friends, it is equally important to discuss it with workplace colleagues.

Recent research by See Change has discovered that more than half of Irish people would not want others to know of their mental health problems. Some 28% of us would delay seeking professional help for fear of others finding out that one might have a mental health problem. One in four people experiences mental health problems and we should be able to speak about it. Recently I spoke with a person who took up a new employment but due to having stated on the application form that he or she was on anti-depressants, is subject to restrictions in terms of illness benefit. That is wrong. If we want to have a discussion we need to be open and not afraid of repercussions. If a person has a physical ailment there is no problem, the same should apply to mental health issues.