Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

Let me take this opportunity to refer again to supports. The supports were launched on 1 September. The website yourmentalhealth.ie is our website for all mental health supports and services across the board, and yourmentalhealth.ie/men is for men’s services.
Fifty per cent of the 300 who followed up came through their GPs. I thank the Irish College of General Practitioners. The GPs meet online every month. In September, 1,200 of them met online. My team explained the new counselling supports to them. It explained to them that one can be referred or self-refer for supports. We were told that about 45% of people actually proceeded on the basis of the advertisement we ran on free counselling.
There are a few different ways to obtain the free counselling. One of these is through a GP. I partnered with Exchange House, which looks after the Traveller community in the Dublin area and has an outreach service, on its 24–7 line, which provides counselling. I partnered with veterans through the Organisation of National Ex-Service Personnel, ONE, based in Dublin. It does phenomenal work. It also has a line set up to support people. The majority are men, but I said to the group that if any female rings the helpline, the staff should not say the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, said only men may be listened to.
The Connect Counselling piece is going down really well. From 5 o’clock in the evening until 9 o’clock at night, any man anywhere in Ireland, whether in his bedroom or sitting at the kitchen table eating his dinner, can pick up the phone and self-refer. He does not have to be referred by a GP. He can make the call and have up to six counselling calls. If after that he still needs supports, he will be facilitated. Of all those who made calls, seven needed support to go face to face with CIPC, and that has happened.
The other organisation to which I wish to give a shout-out is MyMind, with which we also partnered. It is a great organisation and I am very fond of it. It provides counselling support in 20 different languages. Many people who come here on permits to work on farms might not be competent in Irish and English and may need supports.
In all my life, I have never stretched any €2 million as much as the €2 million in question. I also work with the Irish Farmers Association on the supports. I tailor them as much as possible and there is recurring funding. I am just buzzing that 300 men who might not have reached out for support previously have done so now because it is free of charge. I ask Members to spread the word about yourmentalhealth.ie/men .

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29