Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this very important issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. The Government has long recognised the particular disadvantages the Traveller community faces, and the importance of implementing specific strategies and policies to address these disadvantages. The Government’s approach to improving the lives of the Traveller community is outlined in the national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy. This is a cross-departmental initiative that contains a set of specific actions aimed at improving the lives of Traveller and Roma communities in Ireland. A key health action in the strategy is to develop and implement a detailed action plan to address the specific health needs of Travellers, using a social determinants approach. The lead role in developing the action plan rests with the HSE social inclusion office, in conjunction with Traveller organisations. The strategy acknowledges that mental health difficulties and the increased risk of suicide are significant issues caused by many social determinants. It includes ten actions specifically relating to mental health and suicide among Travellers. These are being addressed as part of the comprehensive health action plan. It is envisaged that the mental health actions in the national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy will be incorporated in the Traveller health action plan and will be aligned with the overall approach in our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision. This will allow for an integrated and co-ordinated response to the specific health needs of Travellers. That is exactly what the Senator has outlined. I could be wrong but she said the Traveller community needs its own particular strategy. While the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, agrees with that, she says it needs to be part of and aligned with the national strategy.

Sharing the Vision and Connecting for Life also recognise Travellers as a priority group. Both recognise the vulnerability to, and increased risk, of mental health issues and suicidal behaviour for Travellers and that these should be considered in the way mental health services are delivered to Travellers. Sharing the Vision contains a series of recommendations to improve the mental health outcomes for the whole community. The policy places the individual at the heart of service delivery and contains recommendations for services to address and accommodate the specific needs and unique socioeconomic and cultural background of individual service users. The policy seeks to provide mental health services that recognise and respond to diversity, and advocates maximising the delivery of diverse and culturally competent mental health supports throughout all services, to respond to the needs of specific groups.

Importantly, individuals representing the Traveller community and other ethnic minority communities were appointed to the specialist group panel to support the national implementation and monitoring committee and will provide specialist input at various points in the implementation of the policy. Members of the Traveller community feature across many objectives and actions in Ireland’s national strategy to reduce suicide, Connecting for Life. They are strongly represented in 17 localised versions of the strategy, which are now in place across the country. Many of these have local Traveller groups and representatives on their implementation or oversight groups. With support from the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention, Exchange House provides a range of Traveller-specific mental health and suicide prevention services to the Traveller community. In addition, the HSE has Traveller co-ordinators in each CHO area to assist members of the Traveller community in their interactions with the HSE.

As the Senator acknowledged, last December, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, launched the ethnic minorities and mental health revised guidelines for mental health services and staff on working with people from ethnic minority communities. The guidelines aim to ensure equitable access to appropriate services and supports for everyone in Ireland. They are designed to assist mental health services and staff who work with people from ethnic minority communities in the delivery of culturally competent mental health services. I hope that answered some of the Senator's questions.