Seanad debates

Friday, 12 February 2021

Mental Health and Covid-19: Statements

 

10:30 am

Photo of Sharon KeoganSharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House again. I am grateful to have the opportunity to address her and my colleagues on a matter of grave importance. There is surely not a family in this country that is not affected by the issues of mental health disorder, dementia or intellectual disability. Mental health is an often overlooked and neglected aspect of healthcare in this country. Our history is not an enviable one in that regard. To our shame, this failure is not merely a feature of our history. It continues right up to the present day.

Mental health continues to be the poor relation of in healthcare in terms of investment in services and treatment. The societal stigma associated with these issues, born out of ignorance, must be dispelled and consigned to history. To our shame, we still do not allocate adequate resources to provide much-needed mental health services. It is recommended internationally that approximately 16% or one sixth of health expenditure should be spent on mental health. Ireland spends less than 5% yet many studies show that we have a higher prevalence of mental health problems than other developed nations.

In 2018, the OECD Health at a Glance report showed Ireland having the third highest rates of mental health illness out of 36 countries surveyed. It estimates the cost of our mental health crisis at more than €8.2 billion annually. That is not just an economic abstraction. There is also a human cost. Behind the cost to the economy and the health system, is a story of personal pain, suffering, distress, anxiety, loneliness, addiction, homelessness, suicide, grief, death, tragedy, missed education and employment opportunities, unfulfilled potential and lives not lived. For anyone with any insight or an ounce of compassion it is truly an awful vista. The number of psychiatrists we have per capitais at the bottom of the international league table. If any of this is grossly inaccurate, I would be grateful to hear the Minister of State go on record to advise this House otherwise.

On a more personal note I ask her to examine the issue of funerals and bereavements and the effect the restrictions are having on the health of those left behind. Many of us have had people we know pass away from Covid-19. Many of the people who are passing away are in their 70s, 80s and 90s.Religion and faith played a significant role in their daily lives. Many of these older people would have gone to mass daily and that communal worship was taken away from them. Country churches may only have had ten to 15 people congregating each morning for that most important aspect of people's lives.

Currently, ten people are allowed to attend a funeral. Many families of the generation that is passing now may have six or up to ten or 12 children, so how do they choose who goes to the funeral? People are getting left out, including sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, brothers and sisters and grandchildren, etc. This is the effect that the restrictions on funerals have on the people who are left behind, and that is cruel.

Churches are very suitable for social distancing. Taking away faith from older people, including taking away access to priests who can anoint them before death, is wrong. I have heard horror stories. I was very fortunate but many people were not. Sometimes the diseased bodies were not dressed but were put into a body bag with the hospital gowns. I have heard of families who had loved ones brought straight to a grave without having the funeral mass. How uncompassionate is that? Will the Minister of State consider how we are dealing with funerals and bereavement in this country? Ireland is better than anywhere else when somebody dies in the community but the Government has robbed families of support in a time of grief. It is inhumane to stop people showing solidarity with grieving families. Surely we can find a safer way to conduct funerals and continue to support grieving families.

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