Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As certain Members will recall, last February our very important Oireachtas rugby team played a charity match against An Garda Síochána. It was great fun and a great way to meet and socialise. Senator Mark Daly is a surprisingly good right winger when he wants to be. However the more serious side is that match was played in order to raise awareness of and funds for the work of Pieta House. I join with other colleagues who have mentioned it today and yesterday and I ask the Leader to bring the Minister for Justice and Equality, and all of the other relevant Ministers, to the House to talk about mental health within our front-line services.

Seven members of An Garda Síochána have committed suicide in the past year. It is a scary number and it is something that is endemic across our front-line services including our fire-fighters, our paramedics and our Defence Forces. We really need to address this. It is not unique to Ireland. It is happening in countries around the world. We have all seen that, unfortunately, a number of extremely horrific crimes have been committed in recent weeks in Ireland including one close to my own home, that terrible murder in Rathmichael. It is the people who arrive at those scenes first who have to deal with the effects. Perhaps they go into the great unreported situations and talk people down off bridges, such as the M50 flyover on Blackglen Road. They often find themselves abandoned afterwards. I met a number of gardaí and a couple of paramedics earlier this week who struggle daily not just to deal with other people's mental health issues but with their own.We need a new strategy to talk about the people we rely on the most in this State to make sure the State itself looks after them. I appeal to the Leader to organise that debate as soon as possible.