Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator MacSharry on his hard work and the commitment to this issue that he has shown over the past few years. I welcome the discussion as I believe we need to spend more time in this House focusing on mental health strategies. To be fair to the Government, it has shown its commitment to providing mental health services in a number of ways such as through the National Office for Suicide Prevention, the increased funding for suicide prevention in 2012 and 2013 and the increased funding for mental health services over the past three budgets. If we take some time to focus on each of these, it is clear that it is a Government priority. The National Office for Suicide Prevention has carried out substantial work on almost every recommendation of the national strategy for action on suicide prevention and funds more than 30 non-governmental organisations through agreed grant aid agreements. The programme for Government has committed to ensuring that part of the ring-fenced funding provided for mental health will be used to implement Reach Out, which is the national strategy for action on suicide prevention. This commitment is of great importance and one we need to ensure we adhere to. The priorities of the Government are further demonstrated through the increased funding for suicide prevention, with the HSE allocating funding to the National Office for Suicide Prevention from its overall budget for mental health. The budget has increased significantly from €4 million in 2011 to €8.8 million in 2014.

I agree with the point made by Senator Mary Ann O'Brien about Arthur's day. It is unfortunate that this has turned into a discussion on alcohol, but there are obviously significant links. I do not always agree with Senator Healy Eames and I normally agree with Senator Barrett but I find myself agreeing with her and disagreeing with him for the most part on this issue. Arthur's day was just another excuse for young people and indeed adults to drink. There is much debate about how young people are doing this, that and the other when it comes to the misuse of alcohol but they do not learn their behaviours from the sky. In the vast majority of cases, it is learned behaviour - granted, from their peers, but also from adults in their immediate families in many instances and in society.

Senator Healy Eames said that the link between alcohol and suicide could not be underestimated. My mother is a psychiatrist and she would definitely say there was a significant link. This is not to say that alcohol is not a drug that is fine to use once consumption levels are reasonable. I would disagree with Senator Barrett. That is not what I see. I do not know what those statistics are based on. When I am out and about, I see young and older people behaving in a way that is off the charts. It happens in other countries such as the US, the UK and Australia, particularly where Irish and English people congregate. We have a dangerous relationship with alcohol and I do not believe the statistics. If the statistics show anything, they show that people are not drinking in pubs, if one pub per week is closing. That is unfortunate for business but it means that people are drinking at home. I would disagree fundamentally with Senator Barrett on this point. If people are drinking at home, it is totally uncontrolled. There was a time in Ireland where the publican took an interest in the clients in the pub and would make sure they could not fall. As Senator Gilroy said, at least if they are in a pub they are not in a forest drinking. The availability of cheap alcohol is fuelling drinking in all sorts of environments and the pubs are the least of our worries when it comes to drinking. I regret that I am speaking about alcohol all the time in a debate about suicide, but the link between the two cannot be overemphasised. I raised the issue of water safety recently. One in three deaths by drowning involved people who had been drinking alcohol. We have a really serious problem across the board in Ireland that we need to face up to.

The new strategic framework for suicide prevention will seek to build on the comprehensive work delivered under the current Reach Out strategy, which was devised in 2005. The aim of the new strategy is to support population health approaches and interventions that will assist in reducing the loss of life through suicide. It is expected that this will come into place by the end of this year. I hope the Government follows through on this. Through these initiatives, it is clear that the Government is making consistent efforts and some progress, although I completely agree that more work needs to be done.

The Bill is commendable for attempting to continue and sustain this work. I agree with the revenue-raising side of the Bill, which would seek to tax off-licence trade. This is something that the Government effectively intends to do via the introduction of minimum pricing of alcohol. I have consistently called for this. The intent of the Bill in seeking to bring about awareness and to ring-fence funding for mental health services is admirable. I believe minimum unit pricing will go a long way to achieving the goals of Senator MacSharry's Bill. Government progress on rolling out a holistic mental health strategy with increased funding that is not tethered to any particular revenue-raising initiative but is instead embedded as one of the core fundamentals of our budgetary strategy is the way to continue to pursue this. I thank the Minister of State and commend Senator MacSharry on his work on this.