It has been just over 24 hours since I posted a screen grab picture of our Dáil’s statements on mental health services in Ireland, which illustrated it was attended rather sparsely by our elected ministers and political representatives. The reaction to the image both online and offline has been quite simply gargantuan and there has been a justifiably angry response by the public.
In the light of posting the picture I must admit I am not savvy to the inner workings of the Dáil and how it operates. I have since read excellent articles both on the Journal.ie and from Today FM’s top class political correspondent Gavin Reilly, which offered a little more clarity to the situation. Like everything in politics, it is never a black and white explanation but it still doesn’t sit well with me. The need for Dáil reform is painfully blatant in situations such as these.
I would like to try and put a little bit more context to yesterday’s reaction. You see the reaction wasn’t born purely out of this image of a ghost town Dáil, it was merely a symbolic representation of how mental health has been engaged with at a political level for countless of decades in Ireland.
Perhaps the public reaction was born out of the complete absence of mental health dialogue by the leaders of our political parties throughout the leader’s debates in the run up to the elections. Perhaps the reaction was born out of the fact that the ring fenced budget for mental health has been raided to prop up other areas of our health service when in fact only 6% of our health budget is spent on mental health, and the vast majority of that budget is spent on the medical model rather than community based talk therapy models.
Perhaps the reaction was born out of the fact that countless families are abandoned and helpless to aid their loved ones in need because they can’t get access to the help they require. Perhaps it’s the fact they have to often wait many months just to see a counsellor, and in many cases have to drive countless miles to do it as our child and adolescent mental health services struggle to cope with the demand.
Perhaps the reason we can’t get access to enough health care professionals in the area is purely because these highly trained and passionate professionals simply don’t want to tell a 13 year old girl in the depths of anxiety that they can’t help her for at least 12 months. These professionals may simply move to a country with a more humane system that operates at a level without waiting lists and red tape bureaucracy.
Perhaps this reaction was born out of the fact that if you are a man under 50 in Ireland, your greatest chance of dying is through suicide and also that depression is the leading cause of disability in Ireland and the number one reason for absenteeism in the workplace. Perhaps the reaction is the continued failure to implement the core policies around such social issues as “A Vision for change”, in fact quite a progressive and potentially impactful policy that in essence faded away with many other social policies as more pressing issues jumped the queue.
Perhaps the reaction is born out of the fact that if you are consuming alcohol or drugs and are mentally distressed, you can’t be admitted to a psychiatric unit, even though the two issues are intrinsically linked, and even though alcohol is celebrated and shoved down our faces at every street corner and billboard, engrained deep in our culture along with our generational inability to admit vulnerabilities or emotional issues.
Perhaps the reaction was born out of the fact that every single person on this island either directly or indirectly has been affected by suicide and has had their hearts utterly broken by an issue that has had this country in a choke hold for too long. I could go on…
You see this can’t become a political headhunt, or blame game. That quite simply is going to get us nowhere. We can curse the past although we cannot change anything about it or we can look to the future where we can start effectively looking after the welfare of our state, putting economics, ego and business down the pecking order of importance and put people first.
The large percentage of politicians who did not attend yesterday’s Dáil session have had good reasons. However it has now become glaringly obvious to them that this society cares greatly for the welfare of its people and the mental health of our country.
I would like to think yesterday’s reaction won’t go unnoticed but what’s required now is urgent action. If our new government are serious about developing long lasting and impactful strategies around mental health they must look to the groups, charities and health care professionals that understand it. Rather than rebel and pull apart I feel we must empower each other and work collectively. It’s been an uncertain time in Irish politics over the last few weeks but now we must witness real leadership from whoever takes power.
Mental health can’t wait – Join us for demo at the Dáil tomorrow (Thursday), at 12:30pm – Demo: The Union of Students in Ireland and Mental Health Reform is holding a national demonstration outside the Kildare St entrance to the Dáil at 12.30 pm tomorrow (Thursday April 28th). They are calling on the next government to prioritise mental health and are also asking people to take to social media explaining why they think mental health should be prioritised using the hashtag #IAmAReason.
Support Our Campaign
We rely on the generosity of the public to fund our work and so far together we have achieved great things! Please do continue to support us so we can provide future generations in Ireland with the resources to recognise and talk about their emotions, and equip them to navigate the ever-changing world around them as they grow
