Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to the House and now call on Senator Flynn.

Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach and I thank the Minister of State for personally attending the House this morning. It means a great deal because the last time I did this Commencement matter, the Minister of State, unfortunately, could not make it. In April 2022, a year and a few months ago, I stood in this House to raise the exact same Commencement matter with the exact same questions. Obviously, I will change it around a little bit. I say to the Minister of State that we are failing Travellers when it comes to mental health. The Traveller community has asked for a ring-fenced budget and a stand-alone national Traveller strategy. I know that there are six stand-alone actions for the Traveller community. The Minister of State knows as well as I do the level of the crisis within our community. The response, unfortunately, is not enough.

One of the recommendations of the Traveller committee around mental health is to have that stand-alone strategy and to have the ring-fenced budget for the Traveller community around mental health. Since I did this Commencement matter I know on a personal level of five members of the Traveller community who have died by suicide. We need support for the Traveller community which is focused and will have outcomes for our community. I know that in budget 2023, €300,000 was allocated from the Minister of State's Department to Traveller mental health services. While we welcome it and it was the first time in history for us to get money for Traveller mental health, that will not cover two good counsellors for mental health within the Traveller community.

Again, we are not asking for special treatment. I see this on the ground and I am standing here today coming from a meeting which the Minister of State had with the National Traveller Mental Health Network. While we welcome that meeting, the network came away feeling very disheartened and that the political will was not there. We know from years of campaigning that we are recognised as an ethnic minority group and that was not something that was handed to us easily. We had to work for that for at least 30 years in order to be recognised in our own country as a minority group, which we are, and as an indigenous group of this country.

Keeping the focus on mental health, I know the Minister of State is trying her best. However, it is not enough. Next Monday the National Traveller Mental Health Network is launching a report around the need for a mental health phone line for members of the community which they can call because of the need for an out-of-hours service.

My questions to the Minister of State is very simple. What are the updates on Traveller mental health, how was the €300,000 which was allocated in the last budget spent, and what is next? Can we please have what we were promised, which is our Traveller national mental health strategy?

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Flynn for raising this matter. I also thank her for all of the advocacy work she does on Traveller health and mental health.

As the Senator will be aware, the National Traveller Health Action Plan 2022-2027 was launched in November 2022 and was informed by the results from the All-Ireland Traveller Health Study and other official reports, including the report of the Joint Committee on Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community. The plan was developed following consultation with representatives of the Traveller Community.

The Department of Health and the HSE are committed to developing priorities, strategies and actions on Traveller mental health within the framework of the national Traveller Health Action Plan 2022-2027. These will respond to the crisis in Traveller mental health and address the social determinants of Traveller mental health through targeted and mainstreaming measures.

As a first step, the Traveller health action plan contains six actions on Traveller mental health. These are being delivered through the HSE national service plan for 2023, supported by an additional ring-fenced budget of €300,000 to which the Senator referred. Our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision, and our national suicide reduction strategy, Connecting for Life, all recognise this community’s specific mental health needs. My aim is to work in partnership with the Traveller community and representative groups across the country to improve the standard of services Travellers receive and to ensure more adequate mental health interventions which are rooted in cultural appropriateness and equitable care. The Department and the HSE will also engage with the Traveller community and representative organisations to develop and expand the actions as part of a mental health priority plan within the framework of the Traveller health action plan.

The newly-established HSE steering group on Traveller mental health will continue to consult with the Traveller mental health network on this task and Traveller representatives have been invited to be part of the group.

In 2022 the mental health service co-ordinators for Travellers received a significant grant through this collaboration from the Department of Health to support Traveller organisations across the country in promoting access to mental health recovery with the Traveller community at local level.

I know that the Senator spoke about the €300,000 not being enough but that was new additional funding. There are existing ring-fenced resources. There are nine Traveller mental health co-ordinators; €365,000 was allocated for Traveller mental health engagement in 2022 and further funding of €55,000 was awarded for a peer-led research project to develop a Traveller mental wellness framework in 2022. In addition, the National Office for Suicide Prevention provides annual funding for the Traveller mental health services in Exchange House Ireland National Travellers Service, as the Senator is aware, and also supports and funds for Pavee Point to also support Travellers.In 2022 the mental health service co-ordinators for Travellers received a significant grant. This has meant we are making progress in the ability of our health service to provide appropriate care to Traveller patients to meet Traveller-specific social and cultural needs. This work focuses on supporting and motivating the health service to engage in a more meaningful way with the Traveller community. I was delighted to meet with the group two weeks ago and we had a robust discussion. I am always open to meeting with the group to discuss what more we need to do. I accept we need to do more. As Members might have noticed, in budget 2024 I did not receive much funding for new developments but I ring-fenced specific funding to provide national coverage for the Traveller counselling service. For the first time ever, in 2024 there will be national coverage for Traveller counselling especially in relation to self harm, suicide ideation and people bereaved by suicide.

Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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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.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator. As she knows, there is a strategy for health for the Traveller community which includes the mental health strategy. To be fair, the €300,000 is in addition to the other money being provided. This €300,000 for budget 2024 will have agreed funding. The Traveller mental health working group has agreed funding for one mental health community worker in each of the seven national Traveller health units. That is what the €300,000 is for. Recruitment is starting now. These posts will be based within the Traveller organisations and will be trained by and work closely with the existing HSE Traveller mental health co-ordinators. There are already nine co-ordinators for Traveller mental health within the nine CHOs. This represents a further seven. In what I achieved in budget 2024, there are not a lot of new developments. A great deal of the money is for the existing level of services because there is high demand on the services. I secured funding for counselling nationwide and I will continue to work with the Senator.