Mental Health Surge Capacity: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2021-04-21
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Michael Lowry (IND), Tipperary

I move amendment No. 1:
(a) To insert the following after “acknowledges that”:
“— positive mental health is fundamental to overall health and well-being;
— mental health is central in building a healthy, inclusive and productive society;”
(b) To insert the following after “8,893 children are waiting for primary care psychology treatment”:
“— bereavement, isolation, family financial loss, economic hardship, trauma, chronic stress and fear are triggering mental health conditions or exacerbating existing ones;
— following the Covid-19 pandemic, children are experiencing different emotional and behavioural reactions such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, behavioural problems, somatic complaints, fear and traumatic grief;
— the pandemic may compound pre-existing trauma, adversities and inequalities for some children;
— many children have faced trauma and chronic stress due to increased levels of alcohol and drug use, domestic abuse and anxiety in the home during this pandemic;
— due to the pandemic and school closures, children have missed out on in-person contact with friends, family members, classmates, teachers and their school communities;”
and
(c) To insert the following after “calls on the Government to”:
“— include mental health and psychosocial considerations in national response plans to Covid-19 across relevant sectors;
— re-establish a dedicated lead for mental health within the HSE that reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer;
— support recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic by building mental health services for the future, recognising that all affected communities will need quality mental health services to support society’s recovery;
— develop and fund the implementation of national services’ re-organisation strategies that shift care away from institutions to community services;
— ensure the Department of Health conducts a comparative study as to which countries perform well in the area of mental health and assess how Ireland compares;
— ensure the Department of Education conducts a comparative study as to which countries perform well in the area of trauma informed school strategies for students, educators and school communities and assess how Ireland compares;
— increase training of trauma informed school strategies and restorative practices for all educators and school communities commencing immediately;
— support and implement trauma informed school strategies and restorative practices for all students, educators and school communities commencing in the new school year 2021/2022;”

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:11+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-04-21