Home > Joint Committee on Health debate - Mental health services: discussion.

Joint Committee on Health debate - Mental health services: discussion. (22 Sep 2021)

External website: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_...


Chairman - Apologies have been received from Deputy David Cullinane and Senator Annie Hoey. I welcome members of the Joint Sub-Committee on Mental Health to the meeting this morning to discuss the significant need for investment in mental health services and how to respond to the increased need for the service provision arising from the impacts of Covid-19. I welcome our witnesses, Ms Fiona Coyle, CEO, and Ms Bernadette Grogan, policy and advocacy co-ordinator, Mental Health Reform; and Dr. Fiona Keogh, director of policy and research, Mental Health Ireland…. 

Ms Ber Grogan - I just wanted to jump in quickly about the research piece and the waiting list for children. What comes to mind is the importance of the community and voluntary sector in this. There is so much research needed and there are community and voluntary organisations working on the ground in areas of their own specialty. For example, Alcohol Action Ireland has the Silent Voices initiative where it is looking at the impact of alcohol on family life and children living in homes with alcohol misuse. There is also the HSE report, The Untold Story, which stated that there would be a further 200,000 children on top of the 400,000 people affected by alcohol homes. There are all of these pieces of research and studies, if we had that structure that would be looking at the overarching aspect of everything. Focus Ireland has a lot of research done on the impact of homelessness on children. There are so many areas from birth inter-generational poverty to inequalities that can impact a person's mental health and can set people up with more barriers and more difficulties. It is about joining all of those dots together...

[For the full debate, click this link to the Oireachtas website]

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