Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome my colleague and friend, the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly. I commend the very real engagement he has with his brief and with this whole area. I am aware that he is very serious about dealing with the whole mental health area.

I also commend and genuinely congratulate my colleague, Senator Swanick, on taking this initiative, setting up the task force and producing this wonderful report. I have scanned it and I have read the Minister of State's speech.I commend Senator Swanick on this report. He has done a great job and it would be churlish not to acknowledge and embrace this valuable work. It is not important where it originated but it is important that we act on it.

Let me declare my interest in this issue. I was the founder of Bailieborough Mental Health Association in County Cavan, a vibrant and large organisation which is still in existence. I attended a round table quiz it held the other night. It has been wonderful on a number of fronts, but one of the interesting aspects of this, one which links to some of the points made earlier, is that joining this organisation as a volunteer overcomes people's loneliness. Being involved in volunteerism has secondary benefits.

I am very proud that my eldest son is doing postgraduate study on rural isolation and the difficulties that arise in the mental health area. He has done longitudinal population studies as part of his studies in the geography department of Maynooth University. This is another reason I am interested in this report.

A third reason I am interested is that someone close to me was a victim of cyberbullying recently. Cyberbullying is very common among young people and is a pernicious and common experience. It is often outside our understanding as adults and therefore difficult to identify or to know how to address it. The person in question had been seriously victimised. For those three reasons, I am delighted I was asked by my colleague, Senator Feighan, to speak on his behalf.

We have to look at the area of cyberbullying. People who use smartphones and appear to be in communication with others can be very lonely because it is not real communication or human interaction. Senator Swanick made the point that communicating by phone is no substitute for people talking, meeting and working together.

Rural isolation is a very difficult issue and was a source of discussion during the Christmas period because of the necessary drink driving laws. Let there be no misconceptions in this regard. I have yet to meet anyone who advocates driving while under the influence of alcohol. The necessary laws on drink driving have created a major issue in rural areas, particularly for people who live alone and myriad others for whom the local pub was their main outlet. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, has made proposals in this regard and over Christmas I proposed an expansion of the Local Link service to extend the area it covers and the times at which it operates. I also proposed making more taxis available and incentivising publicans to collect people and drop them home from the pub. An absence of a social life for people living in disparate rural areas is a major issue.

Previous speakers made the point that loneliness is by no means specific to older people - far from it - but it is prevalent among older persons whose family may have gone away or whose partner may have died. I am a great believer in the concept of having a village for older people. There is a wonderful example in Virginia, County Cavan, where the Masonic lodges have built a beautiful voluntary housing scheme around a nursing home. Houses have been built in a circle where people live independently in a community where the services are located. This should serve as a model of development, where people will have their personal independence but will have the support of a community in a village setting. I commend this idea for due consideration not only to the Government but to my colleagues on all sides of the House.

The men's sheds are a great initiative. I do not want to be parochial but I will cite the great examples of men's sheds in County Cavan, which we have been able to support in practical ways. Previously, men did not have outlets to be together and do things. While one cannot generalise or be simplistic about these things, it is not as easy for men to express their emotions and men's sheds provide a context for them to do so.

Carers in the home should be viewed as a national asset, celebrated and valued and given every practical support in terms of finance and ancillary benefits such as a medical card, free transport and a myriad of other benefits. Carers are gold dust in our communities. Carers who are living with a person with dementia or cognitive disabilities can be very lonely because they are isolated and have lonely days. They need great support and help to be brought into the community and to meet other people to whom they can talk. I understand the Minister of State referred to carers and the report also deals with the issue.

I make no apologies for supporting the task force and the entire awareness campaign. Particular groups are vulnerable to loneliness but anyone of us in any circumstance or environment can become lonely. It is by no means gender, age or social class specific but there are areas of vulnerability. There is evidence that members of the LGBT community can suffer loneliness, despite welcome changes in recent years. That should be addressed. Ethnic minorities can also suffer particularly. I have been canvassing in housing estates recently where I often meet non-nationals. While they are not in a position to vote for me, it is fascinating to engaging with them. They are lonely in many instances. They are not in tune with us culturally and they need major support.

I would like to have discussed risk of substance abuse because I see considerable evidence of it arising from loneliness.

This report has given rise to a wonderful and welcome debate. I am delighted that Senator Feighan provided me with this opportunity because I feel passionately about the issue. Senator Swanick is pushing an open door if he wants Members to work with him on this.