In 2016 it really does beggar belief that, if the Dail rumours are true, and Simon Harris cuts the mental health budget for 2017 by €20 million from €35 million to €15 million, that the entire country doesn’t take to the streets over it.
Far too many (predominately young men) are taking their own lives for numerous reasons and to think that the government plan to cut the budget that possibly could help prevent even some of these unnecessary deaths is in astonishingly poor taste, even for them.
Of course the horrifically sad epidemic of suicide doesn’t stop with young men, but they are the highest demographic that are being affected by the plague on Irish society.
The mental health funding that is provided by the State goes towards a collected effort by society to wipe out this torturous epidemic once and for all. Services such as confidential telephone lines, drop-in centres as well as allocated funding to various societies and charities who are tackling the problem head-on will no be cut dramatically, if the 29-yr-old Minister for Health Simon Harris goes ahead with his immoral plans.
That taxpayer needs to know where their money is going, and if this is the case, then their money isn’t going to the right places.
I’ll finish by asking the Minister for Health this question:
“Simon Harris, do you think you and your fellow TDs deserve a €5,000 increase in salary while you disgracefully cut €20 million from the mental health budget? If you do, shame on you!”