Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

For the three and a half years I have been in this House I have worked with the National Traveller Mental Health Network, NTMHN, and with the community on the ground. We are no longer ashamed of mental health issues. That is good to see in Ireland as a whole. However, there are 27 primary healthcare services within Ireland in which the Traveller community works. While we welcome the newly allocated €300,000, genuinely it would not cover two good workers in the year. If the Minister of State walked onto any halting site in the country and spoke to families, they would tell her about the struggle. To a certain extent you really have to live and breathe within the community. There are 13- and 14-year-olds, young women, dying by suicide within our community. We must and should do more. I will talk to the NTMHN about its plans going forward. We were promised a national mental health strategy for the Traveller community. We feel let down as a community.