Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Clifford-Lee for sharing time with me. I welcome the Minister of State and compliment her on the great work she has done since her appointment. Knowing her personally, I would have expected no less. Under such trying and testing times, she has proved herself to be a hands-on Minister of State. The progress she has made in such a short time is admirable.

I welcome all the money provided for schemes such as In This Together, Keep Well and the Community Call campaigns. Coming from a rural area, there are some points I wish to highlight when it comes to isolation, the trials and tribulations so many people and families have gone through over the past year and seems to be on the horizon for the foreseeable future. There are issues with bereavement, isolation and children home-schooling, missing their friends.

The biggest problem we all have had with mental health, along with the lack of treatment for it, is the inability of people to admit that they have an issue. In some conversations I have had with people, they tell me that they were lucky the virus did not cross the threshold or that they did not have a bereavement due to Covid. People are nearly ashamed to say that they are down, not handling this well, missing their friends or missing the night at the bingo, going to mass or trips to shop.While they are not handling it well, they say they are lucky. It is going to be so important, as we come through this, to reach out to those people. In addition to using awareness campaigns and the media, the Minister of State should, through the various Departments, brief volunteers, as in the GAA. When people return to their training sessions, which I hope will be sooner rather than later, maybe a GAA club should be conscious of mental health issues and perhaps should have an officer to identify what is affecting those in whom they have seen a massive change since before the lockdown.

The same applies in education. Teachers, principals and school staff have a role. We often talk about the role of the teacher in identifying problems outside the classroom, but it is often the caretaker, secretary or special needs assistant who sees a change in a pupil's activity in the playground or on the sports pitch. They may even see a change in a pupil's appearance or punctuality. There are little things that the teacher or principal might not see. We need an awareness campaign because we will all need to look out for so much more than we used to. The biggest problem we will have is that people will suppress their feelings. People who are down now do not realise it and actually believe they are lucky because the disease has not come across their threshold.

A lot of debate will be required on the bereaved. There will have to be a collective national approach to the question of how we commemorate those we have lost and how we can do so in a way that goes some way towards meeting the needs of the bereaved. I do not want to sound flippant but Ireland does grieving better than anywhere in the world. That adds to our strong mental health after a family bereavement. The ability to grieve after a bereavement has been taken away. There are people wallowing in sorrow who cannot express it and who have not grieved properly. It is possible that this will be the biggest mental health issue after the pandemic or in living with the pandemic. It will have to be addressed nationally. The idea of a national commemoration day to commemorate and recognise those whom, sadly, we have lost is brilliant but I do not know whether it will go far enough to help affected families to get over the loss they have experienced and the fact they have not been able to grieve.

I thank the Minister of State. I thank my colleague for letting me in early. I do not like leaving before hearing the Minister of State summing up but unfortunately I cannot be here later.