Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Then one can view the beautiful drumlins after the day's fishing.

However, I will turn to the serious issue I wish to raise with the Leader, the mental health outcomes from Covid-19 and the problems in that regard. I am broadly basing what I say on an article in the Irish Medical Journal, entitled Impact of Covid-19 on Mental Health in Ireland: Evidence to Date by B. D. Kelly. This involves research carried out by Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth university. I will refer to the highlights.

One person in every five of the general population in Ireland, and elsewhere, have significantly increased psychological distress, for example, anxiety and depression, arising from Covid-19. The big risk factors are being female, so it is very much a woman's issue, and living alone. Rates of significant psychological distress, obviously a higher level, among healthcare workers are approximately double those in the general population. There is an issue here for healthcare workers which should involve careful rostering, ability to take leave and a different type of organisation. Healthcare workers require a sensitive and holistic approach. Maynooth university and Trinity College Dublin studied 1,000 people in March and April 2020 during the initial restrictions and found 41% of respondents reported feeling lonely, 23% reported depression, 20% reported clinically meaningful anxiety and 18% were in a very bad state of post-traumatic stress and so forth. This increases again. In May and June, a survey of 195 psychiatrists in the College of Psychiatry of Ireland found that the majority, 79%, reported increased referrals for generalised anxiety.

I am aware that an extra €80 million has been allocated this year for mental health. However, as the founding chairperson of Bailieborough Mental Health Association and recognising the importance of this, I wish to offer a stark statistic to the Leader. Some 2,000 people were waiting for child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, at the beginning of this year. That is criminal. Regardless of what we have invested, I want to establish that this is resolved. I ask the Leader to investigate that. I also ask that she arrange for a special debate on mental health issues and Covid-19 as a single item, because the service has traditionally not been funded adequately.