Mental health services need proper support

I REFER to a number of reports in last week’s Irish Examiner referring to comments by the Offaly and south Kerry coroners in relation to the increased incidents of suicide among the elderly and people in rural areas, and to the “export” of Irish people with intellectual disability outside of the country due to the lack of appropriate care facilities to deal with their needs.

In 2010 only 5.3% of the health budget in the Republic was spent on mental health services, an all-time low. This compares with 11% of the NHS budget spent on mental health services in Northern Ireland in 2010. It would appear than Unionist Ireland has the foresight, progressive outlook and political will in confronting mental health funding that is so lacking in Nationalist Ireland.

With an election campaign underway it is very unlikely we will see any of the political parties featuring or giving any commitment to improving the funding of mental health services going forward. It is not an issue that features in the political parties’ manifestos. Maybe there is some politician out there with a social conscience who would be interested in making the mental health services a political issue in this election, thereby helping to break the mould of neglect and underfunding which the service continues to endure.