Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is brilliant to be back from maternity leave. I thank all Senators, and especially Senator Clifford-Lee, for their support. I also thank the members of my Civil Engagement Group for all their support as well during the past four months.

Last week, I was struck by comments made by the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, when she was talking to Miriam O'Callaghan on "Prime Time". She said primary and secondary schools have education programmes dealing with consent around sexual violence and the root causes of rape. I met with representatives of the Donegal Rape Crisis Centre last week. I stress that it has little to no funds available now. The centre has no funds to deliver an education programme to 200 students. Last year, it was possible for the centre to deliver the programme to more than 100 students. This year, though, the organisation does not have, as my father would say, a shilling in its account to enable it to deliver this great training programme to the young students. Schools are crying out for the programme, so I suggest that we write a letter to the Minister for Education to ask if it would be possible to support the Donegal Rape Crisis Centre in delivering this vital training to the young people of the county.

I would also like to echo Senator Pauline O'Reilly's call for funding for the Yellow Flag programme. It is a critical programme to have operating in our education system. Prevention is better than intervention. We must educate our young people to understand that racism, discrimination and the bullying of other children because they are different and not the same as others in the class is inappropriate. The only way we can do that is through initiatives such as the Yellow Flag programme. I have worked with the Irish Traveller Movement, ITM, and the Yellow Flag programme for years. It works, and I call for every school in the country to have access to the programme, just as they do to the Green Flag programme.

I also wish to raise the critical issue of Traveller mental health. Again, the figures in this regard are not just figures; they represent the experience of people's lives. One in every 11 deaths in the Traveller community is caused by suicide. Men in the Traveller community are seven times more likely to die by suicide than men in the general population, while women in the Traveller community are six times more likely to die by suicide than women in the general population. We have a mental health crisis in our community. It is tough for people to hear about this issue, but it is even tougher for me to talk about it. When I open my front door in the Labre Park halting site, where I am living at the moment, I see young men and women in real need of support. Over the Christmas break, on social media posts and elsewhere, we saw reports of young girls aged 12 dying by suicide in the Traveller community. This needs to end.

It is not up to me, as an individual Oireachtas Member, to always come in here and take responsibility for raising this issue. It is not fair to pigeonhole one person in that way. Therefore, I ask everyone here to support a request for the Minister of State with special responsibility for mental health issues, Deputy Butler, to come in and speak to us all about this issue. We must all share responsibility for dealing with this issue. The more collective we are in our efforts, the more action that can be undertaken to help the Traveller community. We must explore what can be put in place to help young Travellers and to stop deaths by suicide happening within the Traveller community as much as we can. Again, the national Traveller mental health network has worked non-stop on this issue. It has all the answers, and all we need now is implementation. Therefore, I reiterate my call for the Minister of State to come into the House, and it should not just be for an exchange between the two of us for four minutes. There should be collective engagement by all of us.