Martin Daly: Praises Mental Health Funding, Warns on AI Risks

Minister, tomorrow marks World Mental Health Day, a moment to pause and reflect on our own nation's mental wellbeing. I want to begin by welcoming this Government's sustained commitment to improving mental health services right across the country. Next year, the total allocation to mental health will reach €1.6 billion, more than a 50% increase since 2020. This is a remarkable achievement and a reflection of consistent, deliberate investment in the wellbeing of our people. It means more psychologists, more counsellors, more nurses, more psychiatrists and more accessible care for those who need it most. I particularly acknowledge my colleague the Minister for Mental Health for her determination to ensure that this funding translates into real, measurable change on the ground in crisis care, in early intervention and in community-based supports. The plan to add 300 new whole-time equivalent staff next year, representing a 9% growth in the mental health workforce by 2026, is another major step forward. New crisis resolution teams, Solace Cafes, scan nurses to support GPs, targeted suicide prevention initiatives for travellers, expanded CAMS capacity, new jigsaw services and the implementation of a digital mental health strategy are the building blocks of a stronger, more compassionate and more modern mental health service. I particularly want to welcome two initiatives you have been involved with, Minister. The accessibility to specialist nurses in emergency departments, where we have long wait times where people are in distress to see a hard-pressed junior doctor or a lack of access to a consultant. I think that is a really huge initiative. And also the men's online counselling initiative, which you allocated €2 million to and began in September, which will allow men in particular who are slow to seek help, psychological help, to access counselling in their own homes without having to attend a centre. And closer to home, there is very good news for Roscommon and the wider West. HSE West-Northwest has plans for a new 50-bed replacement psychiatric unit at Roscommon University Hospital, a modern purpose-built facility that will replace the existing unit. This is a major and long-waited development for patients, families and staff throughout the region. And a multi-storey car park is part of the development, which will finally ease the parking pressure at Roscommon University Hospital and make safer access and make convenience for everyone. This investment will not only provide better patient environment for care, but it will also help make Roscommon University Hospital a more attractive place for staff to work. We do face real challenges in recruiting and retaining consultant psychiatrists and high-quality specialist staff in rural Ireland. Too often, smaller hospitals lose out to larger urban centres, not because the work is less meaningful, but because the infrastructure and supports cannot compete with the larger centres. And that must change if we are to be serious about equitable mental health services nationwide. We must make our regional hospitals places of professional excellence, with strong multidisciplinary teams, modern facilities and clear opportunities for clinical and career advancement. As a practising GP, I see daily the profound human consequences of our modern pressures on mental wellbeing. The levels of anxiety, low mood and burnout presenting in general practice have risen dramatically over the past two decades, and I believe we only see the tip of the iceberg. What once might have been considered occasional stress and sadness is now for many a persistent sense of being overwhelmed. Capacity in general practice is also a major issue, with growth in population dealing with additional cultural complexity and more complex chronic medical illness care being provided in the community. That can impact the urgent access where there is a mental health crisis. That is why those other pathways that you have provided are so important. The use of antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication has grown exponentially in this period. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of antidepressant medications more than doubled amongst children and young people. Among those aged 75 and older, prescriptions have increased by over 50% in a decade, with this group now accounting for nearly a quarter of all antidepressant use. Across Europe, this pattern is the same. Consumption of these medications has more than doubled since 2000, reflecting a wider and deeper tide of psychological distress. Let me be absolutely clear. These medicines work, they help people, they save lives. They are essential in helping people recover from depression and anxiety, and they allow countless individuals to function, to work, to parent and to rediscover hope in their lives. But the scale of the use tells us something important, that far too many people are reaching a point where medication feels like the only lifeline available. This is not a criticism of medical care or of the patients who need these treatments. It is a reflection of the world we live in, faster, noisier, lonelier and more digitally demanding than ever before. We are witnessing an epidemic, not just of illness, but of disconnection from community and purpose. That disconnection is being accelerated by by forces we have yet to fully control. Artificial intelligence is now present in almost every aspect of young people's lives. From homework help to late night conversations, AI chatbots have become constant companions, and yet regulation has not kept pace. Earlier this year, Meta quietly integrated AI assistant into WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, reaching roughly 3 million Irish users, including an estimated 300,000 children, without parental consent, warning or opt-out. Cyber Safe Kids report that a quarter of 8-year-olds to 12-year-olds and more than a third of 12-15-year-olds are now actively using AI chatbots, not just to gather information, but to chat, seek comfort and to pass time. These systems are not designed to nurture wellbeing, they are built to capture attention, to mimic emotional intimacy, to create dependency and to keep young users engaged for profit. We are already seeing troubling reports from abroad of AI bots engaging vulnerable users in harmful and sexualised conversations, even encouraging self-destructive behaviour. The idea promoted by some in the tech world, that chatbots might one day replace therapists or solve loneliness is a dangerous proposition. AI does not understand context or conscience, it cannot detect despair or respond with genuine empathy. It can only mirror back what it has fed, sometimes amplifying it in deeply damaging ways. And Ireland faces some of the highest levels of loneliness in Europe. One in three show patterns of social media addiction. Combine that with the rise of anxiety, depression and the surge in prescription medication and it is clear we are living through a profound mental health challenge, one that cannot be solved by algorithms or quick fixes. That is why Ireland must play a leading role in ensuring that AI is safe by design, transparent in purpose and accountable in impact. The forthcoming EU AI Act provides an important opportunity, but national implementation will be key, particularly when it comes to protecting children and young people. Platforms that profit from emotional manipulation must be held to account. Child safety cannot be an afterthought or a marketing slogan, it must be a legal and ethical obligation. So as we approach World Mental Health Day and as we welcome historic levels of investment, 1.6 billion euros for mental health in 2026, hundreds of new staff, new crisis supports, new digital pathways and new facilities like the 50 bed unit at Roscommon, let us also recognise that no system of care, however well funded, can flourish in a society that is becoming emotionally disconnected. Our task is twofold, to build services that respond to illness with compassion and skill and to build a culture that sustains wellbeing before illness takes hold. That means investing not only in clinical clinicians and infrastructure, but also in communities, education and the digital environment in which our young people now live their lives. Mental health is not merely an absence of disease, it is the presence of connection, meaning and hope. If we lose those, no amount of medication or innovation will be enough. Let Ireland be the country that combines compassion with foresight, that embraces technology, but never at the expense of our humanity, and that ensures progress will always serve the people, not the other way around. Go me and my God.