We will discuss the motion on loneliness, brought forward by the Green Party group. Time is limited to 60 minutes, with speakers having six minutes apiece. I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad.
Loneliness: Motion
I move:
That Seanad Éireann:
notes with concern:
- that over 20 percent of Irish people reported feeling lonely most or all of the time, the highest level in the European Union (EU), where the average is only 13 percent;
- that nearly one-third of Irish adults over 50 feel emotionally lonely occasionally, with 7 percent frequently experiencing loneliness;
- the 2018 A Connected Island, An Ireland Free from Loneliness report by The Loneliness Taskforce, established by ALONE and Dr Keith Swanick, which showed that loneliness is the public health crisis of this generation;
- the 2021 study by the UK Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, which noted that younger farmers were less likely to confide in anyone about poor mental wellbeing and more likely to report feeling lonely;
- research conducted by Calor and Macra na Feirme (2016) which found that 27 percent of people nationwide put down loneliness as their biggest fear about growing old in their community;
further notes that:
- the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared loneliness a ‘pressing health threat’, and has launched a new commission to foster social connection as a priority in all countries;
- last year the US Surgeon General declared social isolation and loneliness to be a significant public health concern;
- weak social connection is estimated to be as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day with social isolation, loneliness, and living alone each associated with a 25–30 percent increase in mortality risk (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015);
- according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loneliness may have a link to higher rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide;
- the Canadian Citizens Connections Report 2023 notes that in Canada 45,000 deaths a year are attributed to loneliness;
considers that:
- research suggests that loneliness is associated with social isolation, poor social skills, and depression and that it has no single common cause;
- research by the Cigna Group in the US shows that 58 percent of adults are currently considered to be lonely, 61 percent of adults experienced loneliness in 2019, 58 percent of adults experienced loneliness in 2018, thus illustrating that Covid-19 measures are not the only contributing factor to loneliness;
- a 2022 survey conducted in 16 countries found that nearly 60 percent of young adults between 18 and 24 years reported negative effects on wellbeing from feelings of loneliness, highlighting that loneliness is an issue for all age groups;
- studies from the Joint Research Centre have found that wealthier respondents are less likely to be lonely than those in lower income deciles, and that loneliness is more prevalent among the unemployed and students than among those who work;
- LGBTQ people are more likely to experience loneliness compared to their heterosexual peers, as shown in studies from Canada, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, and Australia;
- people experiencing major life events such as separation, job loss, or finishing their studies face an increased risk of experiencing loneliness;
- there is some evidence to suggest that social media use, which may replace face-to[1]face contact, may contribute to loneliness;
further notes positively that:
- having several meaningful relationships is associated with lower levels of loneliness, but that the frequency of contact also matters;
- the UK Government published a cross-Government strategy to tackle loneliness in 2018, with a £30 million Pound budget to increase volunteering
opportunities and reduce loneliness in disadvantaged areas; this budget also supports the deployment of loneliness campaigns and the commissioning of further research;
- the WHO recently announced their new Commission on Social Connection, to address loneliness as a pressing health threat;
- efforts are ongoing to study the problem of loneliness at European level by the Joint Research Centre, in collaboration with the European Parliament and the European Commission via the ‘Monitoring Loneliness in Europe’ project, and the production of the extensive EU wide survey, the EU Loneliness Survey in 2022;
welcomes:
- the work done by the Loneliness Taskforce, a coalition of organisations and individuals who work to address loneliness by advocating policy change;
- the positive role that expanded public and active transport can and are playing in maintaining and enhancing healthy communities; outside of individual vehicles, citizens can better engage and interact with their local community;
- the HSE funded ‘Text About It’ free, anonymous, 24/7 messaging service providing everything from a calming chat to immediate support for mental health and wellbeing;
- the dedicated HSE web page that provides information on coping with loneliness and isolation, including contact details for support services such as ALONE, which provides support for older people who feel alone and isolated; Meetup.com which provides a way to connect with other people if you are moving into a new area and Parentline.ie for single parents who are feeling isolated; and that HSE-funded Social Prescribing services are now available in 44 locations across the country;
- the operation of ‘Healthy Age Friendly Homes’, a support coordination service which seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of older adults and to enable them to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as they wish;
- that the HSE, in conjunction with ALONE, is also continuing the roll-out of a Support Coordination Service across the country;
- the launch last year of ‘Hello Again World’, the campaign to address the growing problem of loneliness;
- the commitment to the development of an implementation plan to deliver on the objectives of tackling loneliness and isolation noted in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 and the Healthy Ireland Strategic Plan 2021-2025;
- Stronger Together, the HSE Mental Health Promotion Plan (2022–2027) which includes a commitment to ‘Support the implementation of initiatives to address the impact of loneliness and social isolation across the life cycle’;
and calls on the Government to:
- through the Department of the Taoiseach, establish an Expert Action Group on Loneliness to recommend best practice from other jurisdictions and necessary legislative changes to drive down loneliness in Ireland; this group would consist of experts from Government, academia and NGOs with a mandate to publish a report within 6 months on how we can stop Ireland from being the loneliest country in the EU;
- ensure that this group in particular consider the effects, and causes of loneliness on Ireland’s young people, and the long-term effects of the Covid pandemic on their socialisation and mental health;
- fulfil the Programme for Government commitment to publish an Action Plan to Combat Loneliness and Isolation, in order to improve social connection across all ages, involving Government Departments, local authorities, the Loneliness Taskforce, and community groups; this strategy should examine how to better coordinate and improve initiatives from across Government, Community and the Voluntary Sector, including:
- group-based approaches such as sports, community choirs, voluntary work, and education and learning;
- social prescribing and the provision of mental health services to support people at key junctures in life, such as bereavement, relationship breakdown and childbirth;
- the availability of public transport to connect people, particularly in rural areas;
- the planning system and the provision of public spaces and ‘third places’;
- the awarding of funding for community and voluntary groups, including ringfencing of funds for initiatives to combat loneliness;
- encouraging inter-organisational approaches, such as pairing animal shelters with older people charities, language exchange programmes for recent immigrants, or exchanging skills between young and old people;
- the provision of befriending and buddying services;
- the provision of school and third-level counselling services to help people, transitioning to and from full-time education;
- the regulation of social media;
- continue to utilise transport policy to promote modes that encourage greater social interaction;
- measure loneliness as part of wellbeing indicators annually, rather than every five or six years as is currently the case, to enable effective monitoring of policies and progress;
- mandate that every local authority prepare a local strategy to combat loneliness, through the use of libraries, public buildings, sports partnerships and the Public Participation Networks;
- allocate to a Minister specific responsibility to combat loneliness.
I second the motion.
I wish to share my time with my Green Party Senator colleagues.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
It is a lonely Chamber, given the topic.
We tend to think of Ireland as a very friendly place that is dominated by community spirit. Additionally, volunteerism is very high in Ireland. What is shocking is that Ireland is actually the loneliest place in Europe. The official figures show that 20% of Irish people reported feeling lonely most or all of the time. This is the highest level in the European Union, where the average is only 13%. Even the figure of 13% is fairly shocking and in fact the European Union wants to take action on this. Indeed, the World Health Organization announced it has a commission on social connection to address it and it calls this a “pressing health threat”.
I am delighted the Minister of State is here today. This is one of his first engagements as a Minister of State. He was with me earlier today when we discussed the issue of midwives and nurses in the audiovisual room.
When it comes to healthcare, I think everybody in Ireland cares about how other people are treated. Whether it is ourselves feeling lonely or somebody who we love, we cannot do it alone. I would hazard a guess – but it is only a guess – that the reason we have such high levels of loneliness is because we have relied on families to do what the State should be stepping up to do, and that is put in place a support mechanism around our people. It should not be left to individual families who are pressed, have financial concerns and have everyday life to get through. It is probably particularly and specifically because we have had a strong community spirit that we have now found ourselves in a situation where we have had underinvestment in social connection. This runs right the way through from preschool-aged children to older age. I know my colleagues will address some of the specific areas with regard to some of those age groups.
From my background in a farming family, I know only too well that in particular parts of our country we have very high levels of suicide, and those are in our most rural areas. I wish to mention specifically people living in rural areas. I now live in a very urban area and you see people around you who are lonely. I was talking to my dad the other day and he said that before the pandemic, you would go into the pub and see a middle-aged man sitting at the bar. You would go up, sit down and have a chat. Those people are not there now. It is not because they do not exist in society but they are not finding that to be the outlet it once was. Therefore, we need to find other things.
I will hand over to one of my colleagues but I wanted to mention some of the things we are calling for in this which go right from the lowest level of democracy to the highest. I call on the Government to allocate a Minister to have specific responsibility for combating loneliness; to have every local authority prepare a local strategy to combat loneliness through the use of libraries, public buildings, sports partnerships and public participation networks; and to measure loneliness annually as part of the well-being indicators. It is the Green Party that has pushed for well-being indicators. We do not want to wait five to six years when this is such a threat to public health. We in the Green Party have been putting in place measures, particularly in respect of transport. In my own constituency in Galway, we have seen a massive uptake in people using rural bus services, particularly people who live alone and can get to their local town now but would never have been able to before.
There is much to discuss here. I am delighted the Minister of State is here to talk about it. I will hand over to my colleague, Senator Róisín Garvey, who I think will have some important insights as she comes from a rural area.
I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. He has an interesting brief – public health, well-being and the drugs task force. If you look at the Irish word for well-being, folláin, it is about being whole. As a nation I wonder how many people are getting that wholesomeness in their daily lives. Therefore, today we call for a commission on loneliness. As the Minister of State with the responsibility for well-being, I think the Minister of State might be able to do the interdepartmental thing. Nobody else has the word “well-being” in their title and it is the antithesis of loneliness.
I urge the Minister of State to take this motion seriously as we prepare for an aging population. A quarter of us will be over the age of 65 by 2050. We have smaller families and less reliance on family members. Therefore, loneliness will become much more of an issue. Already more than 5,300 older people reported feeling lonely in 2023. I was on to ALONE about it and they were very happy about this commission. Actually, many NGOs got on to us, thanking us for bringing this request for a commission forward and asking us to support the motion – some of them did not know we were the ones tabling the motion. It is amazing to get positive emails. We got many positive emails about this request to ask for a commission, so I think we need to take it seriously as a Government.
I do not know if the Minister of State knows of Muintir na Tíre. It is another organisation that has been around for years. It does the senior alert scheme, which provides monitored panic alarms for over-65s. The scheme was originally intended to deal with health and crime emergencies but Muintir na Tíre noticed a major increase in reassurance calls, where the person feels vulnerable or lonely but there is no actual incident and calls the monitoring centre just for reassurance. Nothing is happening; they just want to ring somebody and for somebody to tell them they are okay. We obtained figures from the monitoring centres which show the volume of these reassurance calls has increased by 46% since Covid. Everything has changed since Covid and that is why are calling for this commission.
I meet with Macra na Feirme regularly. Figures from its survey show that 27% of people nationwide put down loneliness as their biggest fear about growing old in their community. That is one quarter of the young farmers of Ireland. When asked what their concerns were, their biggest fear was being lonely in old age – and we are trying to keep people on the land. Some 98% of participants are dealing with mental health issues daily or weekly, followed by career decision-making. School refusals, which is a newly-included category, is encountered by 62% of guidance counsellors daily or weekly. The order of top issue has shifted in the survey, with mental health now surpassing career-related concerns.
I had representatives from the Institute of Irish Guidance Counsellors in here recently to do some work with them and the Minister for Education. They have vast knowledge and experience. They are the front line of youth mental health, and loneliness is a big part of that too. Even though young people are spending all their time on their phones interacting with people, humans need humans. No amount of social media interaction, likes or shares - or TikTok - gives people company. We have a huge issue with our young people as well.
I am worried about our farming community, our ageing population and our young people. We have funded community halls all over Ireland. A very simple thing that should come out of this commission is the need for an older people’s group in every single village and parish. What are those community halls for if they are not for older people? In our parish hall at home the hall will let me hire the building for a tenner. We have a group called Young at Heart that I started three years ago and it is the best. Between 20 and 30 older people - they are young - from my parish meet, and they came up with the name Young at Heart. We meet on the first Friday of every month. Let us have a first Friday for older people all over Ireland. Just open the door of the community hall and put on the kettle - they will do the rest themselves. We have to get them out and get them together. Now new friendships have been formed among this older active group.
I am bringing them all up to Leinster House tomorrow, if Members would like to meet them.
I smile because I get so much joy out of meeting older people. They are our mentors; they have seen it all before. They are much more relaxed and calm than I am so they are good for me to hang out with. If we value our older people, we will bring this commission forward and do the work needed to prevent loneliness. We have many new Local Link services, which are brilliant. They call to your door, which is amazing, but many old people still do not know about them.
We have a huge new concern around loneliness among younger people as well. If Macra na Feirme is saying that more than 25% of its members say loneliness is a fear they have about growing old on the farm, we have a serious problem because we need our farmers and we need them to grow our food. The days of importing everything from all over the world are dwindling, with the way the climate is going and the cost of oil and petrol. I will stop talking because I want to share my time with our lovely new Senator Malachai O'Hara, who will speak from a different perspective. Guidance counsellors, Alone, Muintir na Tíre, Macra na Feirme and the Green Party Senators are all saying we need a commission. We have support for that from all parties and none. I implore the Minister of State, who has responsibility for well-being, to take this seriously and let us look at what we can do. It will save us money in the long run because prevention is better than cure. Old people ring me all the time just looking for a chat. Let us take this seriously and commit to a commission for loneliness for this country.
I thank my colleagues for sharing time. I am delighted to take a few moments to speak to the motion. Our specifics asks are clearly articulated in it. I will touch on some of them in a few minutes. A Chamber just up the road had a very similar debate on Monday. If that is not all-island synergy then I do not know what is. It is great to hear. The lead proposer of that motion was Robbie Butler of the Ulster Unionist Party, whom I met a long time ago with a different hat on, talking about mental health and well-being. He has been very passionate on this issue. Strong contributions were received from all members and all parties represented in the Assembly. They specifically talked about a cross-departmental strategy, which is similar to our asks.
I will talk about some of the specific groups that might be particularly vulnerable to loneliness. Some of this data is from Northern Ireland, some of it is all-island and some of it just relates to the Twenty-six Counties, but the round figure is that one in five people experiences loneliness. That would be a handful of us here in the Chamber if we took a straw poll. I am sure we have all experienced loneliness, whether it was chronic, long-lasting or enduring, and it may have had an impact on our physical health or emotional well-being.
My colleagues referred to the impact of Covid-19 and how that exacerbated many of the fractures and difficulties our society faces, but particularly in the context of loneliness. People feel less safe in a public environment and they are concerned about their health and well-being. They fell out of a pattern of social engagement because of the length of the pandemic and have found it difficult to get back into that. One of my most salient memories relates to the work we did in Belfast at the start of the pandemic. We set up a soup kitchen and fed 17,000 meals to vulnerable people in the first three months. We worked with a local organisation in north Belfast supporting older people. It was really jarring that some of those older, vulnerable people told me that the only social interaction they were having each day was when I or my colleagues turned up with the soup. That sat with us, so we developed a kind of well-being check-in to make sure those people were okay and their needs were being met in a safe and compliant way.
Vulnerable groups include carers, people with disabilities, those with illness and, of course, minority groups. Carers have particular issues relating to their energy, time and capacity. They spend so much energy and time looking after the person for whom they are caring that they may have limited time to look after themselves. For older people there may be issues around moving home, care and bereavement. In particular, the loss of sensory faculties, whether that is sight or hearing, may inhibit them from participating in public life or in social interactions. There is also the lack of transport, how to access community services and of course the tech gap. Statistics from the North tell us that one in three disabled people talks about experiencing loneliness. That is a real challenge. We know from the census the figure for people with disabilities. What are we doing to make sure they can play an equal role in society?
I refer to newcomer communities - people who arrive on the shores of this island seeking refuge and safety - and how we integrate them. In the community that I always talk about, namely, the queer community, some people may be estranged or disenfranchised from their communities or families and, therefore, more at risk of loneliness. Other groups we may think about are black and minority ethnic groups, Roma, Travellers and so forth. Those groups may experience loneliness. I am particularly concerned about young men and emerging evidence in that regard. The risk is that some people will use it as an opportunity to radicalise them or further exacerbate their alienation from mainstream society. We see in other parts of the world what that leads to.
It is weird that we are more virtually connected that we have ever been, but more lonely than ever. How can it be that with access to such opportunity for connection, more of us are not making connections. We are wealthier than ever but we have built our society and much of our economic model on consumerist debt and a view that buying things will make us happy. I am a member of the Green Party, so the disposability of so many of those things enrages me. The issue, however, is how we think money will buy us happiness. Rabbi Hyman Schachtel said happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. The last time I used that quote was at my younger brother's wedding.
I commend the motion. I hope Members will support all the asks in it. The particular ask I want to draw attention to is around transport. So many of us are sold cars with the idea that they provide freedom. Car advertisements always show empty roads with no congestion. The idea is that we get into this tin and plastic box, we drive to our work and drive home, we drive to the supermarket and drive home. If we walk, cycle or get the bus we meet people and connect to people in our community. I am delighted to see that we are talking about mandating local authorities because local authorities have those connections in the community that can build cohesive communities.
The most important thing is that, when we take our final breaths, we will not think about the things we had or the money we spent; we will think about the people and the connections that we had in our life. I commend the motion to the Chamber.
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke. It is the first time I have had an opportunity to congratulate him on his appointment. I say "Well done" to him. He is no stranger to this House. I really appreciate his being here.
I thank the Green Party for proposing this important motion on loneliness.
I acknowledge the enormous amount of work that former Senator Keith Swanick did in this area. He was a Senator for several years. He assembled an impressive group of people and produced a document called A Connected Island - an Ireland free from Loneliness and issued a number of important asks and tasks. Needless to say, many of them have not been done. That is a pity because there were very eminent members on the task force, representing a wide sector of stakeholders in this area. I ask the Minister of State to dust off that report. Too many reports sit up on shelves gathering dust. We do not need any more reports. We know what the challenges are around loneliness, social isolation and exclusion. We do not know enough about the demographics of it but we know a lot about the impact of it, as the previous Senators have outlined. I ask that this report be taken down again and looked at because it is a very important piece of work.
We cannot talk about loneliness in isolation from mental health. Mental health is so important. Many people are still coming to terms with it. I am particularly conscious of rural communities and farmers, particularly single rural farmers. In many cases, but not all, those with whom I deal are men who, being the eldest, have inherited the farm. For many reasons they have not established a partnership or relationship with anybody else. They feel a duty of care and responsibility to keep on the homestead and the tradition of agriculture. With all of that, they pay a price. That price is isolation, loneliness and the responsibility of the inheritance, destiny, lineage and heritage of the family resting on their shoulders.
In the end it takes its toll. For many, this has happened late in life and they have become older, isolated and vulnerable. I speak of family members of my own who have had this experience. Sadly, one of them committed suicide. It was afterwards when the family came back to the rural homestead in the hills of Wicklow that they suddenly discovered a whole other story through what was left behind in that home. When you go back into the homestead of a single old man, which might not have had anyone in it for six, eight or ten years, it peels back issues around alcoholism, isolation and a range of others that make it very sad. We discovered then that we were only beginning to accept people in those situations. We did not provide them with the space or capacity to be themselves and to be their authentic selves. All this feeds into the isolation, loneliness and mental health issues of people in this situation. It is a very sad picture. There is a wake-up call in this area. It knows no bounds and affects those of all ages. It is not all old people, marginalised people or minorities. Clearly, there are real issues here in this regard. The farming organisations, in particular, have done a lot of work on this issue. It is one that exists in rural and urban areas. It is an amazing challenge to address it.
I wish to touch on mental health reform and promoting efforts to improve mental health. In this briefing document, sent out on 1 May 2024, the opening remarks refer to the Government's commitments on loneliness assigned to the Department of Health not yet having been progressed. I draw the Minister of State's attention to this text. I am sure he has a copy of the document but I will send another one to him anyway. Three key messages are set out in it. We know these are echoed in the Green Party's motion. There is a reference to the programme for Government. Page 51 of that document refers to a commitment to "Develop a plan aimed at tackling loneliness and isolation, especially among older people, as outlined in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion" policy document. We are coming to the end of this Government's term and, sadly, this matter has not got priority. There are many other priorities, so this is not to be critical of the Government. It cannot get everything over the line. It is progress that we are even talking about this issue today.
Loneliness is an important issue. I appreciate that the Green Party has highlighted it in this motion. It is important this issue is addressed. I touched earlier on the Department of the Taoiseach and the expert group. This is an important request. Fulfilling the programme for Government commitment is another ask. I fully support this too. It is late in the day, but it is right that we should keep the focus on this in the next few months.
The Minister of State's suggestion in respect of this motion in the name of the Green Party, mandating every local authority to prepare a local strategy, is a very good idea. The people in the local authorities are those on the ground and they are familiar with what is going on there. It is important to address loneliness through the use of the public realm, including public libraries and other buildings. Some ring-fenced funding, however, will be needed to do this. City and county managers will also need to identify a key person in each local authority to drive this initiative.
I congratulate the Green Party councillors on their work. There is a lot of information available, as I said. This includes A Connected Island: an Ireland Free from Loneliness by Dr. Keith Swanwick, a former Senator, and the mental health reform paper that was sent to us. There is a lot in this material, and if the Minister of State could take it on board, we would be making steady progress.
Like others, I welcome the Minister of State and wish him well in his new role. I commend my Green Party colleagues on bringing forward this motion. When we think about loneliness, any of those who have ever gone canvassing or knocking on doors will have encountered the case of the door you knock on and the person who wants to keep talking to you. It is not that they are supporting the other party and looking to hold you up but that you may be the only person who might have called to the door in the course of the day. This is one of the challenges. I will talk about the challenges encountered in rural areas, but people can be living right in the heart of a town or city and still feel very lonely.
It is quite amazing in this world where we are ever-more connected through devices and the Internet of things that we can increasingly be disconnected from other people. This is, therefore, a very important motion. It is an issue that has been explored before by various agencies and the Department of Health. In researching for today's debate, I noted that the Institute of Public Health did a North-South study in 2016 and very much identified the threat of loneliness to both physical and mental health. It clearly identified five groups in this regard. I was conscious that Senator O'Hara referred to them when he was speaking. These five groups that were identified as being at particular risk were members of the LGBT community, those with dementia or cognitive impairment, those with a disability, carers or ethnic minorities. These groups, especially, faced challenges.
As Senator Boyhan mentioned, the former Fianna Fáil Senator, Dr. Keith Swanwick, worked with ALONE in the establishment of the loneliness task force. This again emphasised some of the challenges being faced by particular sectors of the community while also making the point that loneliness can impact on anybody and people suffering from loneliness can be of any age or background. All this research was done, of course, before the onset of Covid-19. I do not think we have sufficiently examined the impact of Covid-19 on people's physical and mental health. I refer to the effect on the socialisation skills of younger people. Equally, however, as the Minister of State knows, many older people who were encouraged to protect themselves have not come back out after Covid-19. Our society will face many of these challenges. We have been talking about investment in research, but looking at the social impact of Covid-19 is important. I say this because, in many cases, we will not see these impacts fully manifested for some years to come.
People in the education system, including teachers, lecturers and those providing support services, are talking about some of the challenges in respect of the long-term impact of Covid-19. From talking to representatives of some of the farming organisations, I know the mart was, in many cases, often a social venue for older men. They may never have bought or sold anything there but there was an opportunity to mix with colleagues. Much of that activity went online and many of the older farmers have not been coming back to marts again. It is something I believe we need to address.
What can we do in this regard? I agree entirely with Senator Garvey and what she said about some of our community infrastructure and the great work many community organisations are doing. I was very pleased she mentioned, in particular, Muintir na Tíre and Macra na Feirme, organisations that are doing incredible work in rural areas in particular. I also commend the work of men's and women's sheds. I am especially familiar with two of the men's sheds, those in Gorey and Ballycanew. These are bringing together men who still have so much to give to their communities but who are often on their own. When they are able to work together with their peers, they can deliver. The supports the Government has been giving to those organisations are critical and need to be expanded.
In terms of youth organisations as well, it is almost scary now how many young people's entire sense of community is based on their groups on phones. It is all about the likes and shares and not necessarily about the interaction. Youth organisations, and the Minister of State will be familiar with many of them in Cork, do tremendous work. The Government has been increasing funding to youth organisations but we need to continue to focus on targeting those groups most at risk. Equally, investment in community, artistic and sporting organisations continues to be essential. Some of the recent announcements by the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, are particularly welcome in this regard. The questions about transport are important too. In rural areas, especially, we must ensure we have public transport to allow people to get to some of these centres.
To make one final point about tackling loneliness, there are also the old methods of engagement and communication, including radio. Support in this context has been done in the past through the Sound and Vision fund in respect of building communities. Radio can be great company and this medium also needs to be considered. I wish the Minister of State well in this work. This issue of loneliness has very serious impacts on mental and physical health. I am glad the Minister of State is taking it seriously. I thank my colleagues in the Green Party for bringing forward this motion.
The Minister of State is very welcome to Seanad Éireann. He served two terms here with me and we had the same assistant, Marian, working for both of us for a long time. I am delighted for the Minister of State personally and I have no doubt he will bring a wealth of experience to the role, having been an MEP, Senator and TD. It is fitting he is in the House to address this very important issue.
I will pick up on something Senator Byrne referred to, which was the pandemic. The narrative in the discussion on loneliness post pandemic has very much changed to what it would have been pre-pandemic. It is very timely our good friends and colleagues in the Green Party have brought this motion before the Seanad to amplify the issues and the learnings that are there from the Covid-19 period. For many years I was a board member of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, now known as Vision Ireland, and during the pandemic it set up a telephone support service where people rang visually impaired and blind people who were living alone and who did not necessarily have family. They might have had home health or a carer coming in once a week or once a day for an hour. That system is still up and running to this day because it was so successful and brought such benefit, joy, conversation and connections to people who were living alone and had an eyesight problem. Such was that need that it continued and continues to be met to this day. A couple of thousand phone calls are made every week to people with vision impairment who live alone, and this is supported by Vision Ireland. There are positives from the pandemic.
One other positive from the pandemic was the Covid response groups run by the councils. In County Clare the Covid response committee, which was a multi-agency committee, brought volunteers and people who, together with the State agencies, gave assistance and reached out to many people. What I worry about is that people had contact during the pandemic because there was a structure in place to have contact and people do not necessarily have that contact now. Because we are back to normal, these Covid response teams have been stood down. The point of the motion to mandate the local authorities to come up with a strategy is absolutely on the ball. The structure, the experience and the expertise is there from the Covid response, which I think in most cases worked very well.
It is a commitment in the programme for Government but I very much believe it needs to be front and centre because, as Senator Boyhan said, we are into the last year of the Government, and while this is a political issue, it is certainly not a political football in any shape or form, because all parties would agree that with an ageing population and people living alone, this is something that very much needs to be taken head on.
When Senator Byrne was talking about canvassing and meeting people, it brought me back to some of the horrendous circumstances I encountered during my many years of canvassing, where some people were living in diabolical conditions in rural Ireland with probably no contact at all. With the health challenges these people had, in some cases they had no central heating, contact or phone. In one case I remember there was no television. As a society we need to wrap our arms around these people and mind, help and support them.
This is one of the most important Private Members' motions we have had in this House in a very long time. I wholeheartedly support it and commend our Green Party colleagues and friends on tabling it.
I thank the Green Party for bringing this motion. At our Labour Party conference in March, my Labour Party colleague for Blackrock, Councillor Martha Fanning, brought a motion on this very topic. In her motion, she recognised the prevalence of loneliness in our society and she further noted that local authorities, as the custodians of many of our indoor and outdoor community spaces, should be central to a national plan to address loneliness. She called not only on our own conference but also on the Department of Health to develop a national plan aimed at addressing loneliness across all ages and backgrounds. I thank Councillor Fanning for the work she has done in this area, her very innovative thinking on the way local county councils operate, and her suggestions for the role local county councils have in being custodians of facilities and amenities which would help tackle loneliness.
We know loneliness is a major issue in our society and we need to develop a national plan to tackle it. Research published last summer showed that Ireland had the highest rate of loneliness across the whole of Europe, where 20% of people feel lonely most of the time compared with an average of 13% across Europe. It is very hard to think that one in five of us feel lonely all of the time. That is a very dismal figure. The US Surgeon General published an advisory in 2023 called Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation with the subtitle The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community. He stated:
Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling — it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.
That document, as well as others on this side of the Atlantic, noted the significant linkage of loneliness and isolation to depression and mental health difficulties and to diseases such as Parkinson's, diabetes, cancer, strokes and even early death. This is a very concerning list of things.
The first ever EU-wide survey on loneliness found that, on average, 30% of respondents reported feeling lonely most of the time over the past four weeks, while 35% reported being lonely at least some of the time. As I have already said, Ireland has the highest levels. The report from this survey provides evidence for the strong association between loneliness, poor mental health and physical health. Results show that individuals feeling lonely most or all of the time are three times as likely to assess their health status as poor. The report also shows a correlation between excessive use of social networking sites and feelings of loneliness. Intense use of social media, defined as spending two hours or more a day on social networking sites - I am sure that possibly sends a shock through many of us - is on average associated with an increase of 6.1 percentage points in the prevalence of loneliness. This finding is in line with the idea that social networking sites may contribute to a displacement of face-to-face interactions. Furthermore, the report highlighted that lonely individuals are more likely to exhibit reduced trust in and to withdraw from political participation. Those feeling lonely are less likely to trust others, at 27%, and are more likely not to vote, at 42%. Addressing loneliness may therefore help to promote civic engagement and social cohesion in communities.
In September of last year, the Loneliness Taskforce, whose members include Alone, Mental Health Reform and the Disability Federation of Ireland, called for funding of €5 million to address loneliness in budget 2024. It was concerned that the Government was not living up to its commitment to tackle loneliness. The task force stated:
Loneliness must be addressed by tackling the root causes at the structural, community and individual level, across all age groups and demographics, and particularly to those cohorts most at risk of loneliness and isolation, including carers, LGBTQ+ people, younger people, people with disabilities and members of the international community residing in Ireland. The Loneliness Taskforce has repeatedly offered our support to the Department of Health to develop an action plan. This offer has not been taken up to date.
As public representatives, it is very important as we see loneliness all around us. All of us have received a phone call from someone who very clearly just wants to talk. All of us have been caught in a door and we are always told not to be caught in a door chatting, but actually many of us are being caught in a door because someone is genuinely lonely. There is any number of times I have been brought into a house or just asked to sit down, where I have sometimes wondered if these are Opposition people trying to cause me to delay my way at doors, but sometimes they are just actually very lonely people. I have had some of the best chats of my life on those doors with those people, so I try to give that kindness on doors when someone is trying to chat to me and not always to go in with a suspicious eye that someone is trying to catch me out.
From our teens, we have seen teenagers struggling and this has been reflected here since Covid. There are thirtysomethings who are stuck in their parents' boxroom and the loneliness of that. Office workers are missing out on social interaction as a result of hybrid working. It is so important we rebuild social connections in our communities.
Our local authorities are responsible for many of our indoor and outdoor public spaces.
These spaces offer the opportunity for social connections. Councils are at the heart of our communities and must be at the heart of a national plan to tackle loneliness. We have invested in smoking cessation programmes and programmes to understand and tackle obesity. We must now invest in understanding and tackling loneliness and we need a national plan to combat loneliness. Without making light of this incredibly serious topic, Britney Spears was absolutely correct when she said, "My loneliness is killing me". This topic is of the utmost importance and it has serious, life-limiting consequences. I urge the Government to take this Green Party motion with the utmost seriousness, and really begin to tackle this awful social and health issue.
I welcome the Minister of State to the House and wish him well going forward in his new position. I also thank the Green Party Senators for using their Private Members' time to table this important and timely motion.
The results of the European Commission's research report, which shows that Ireland is the loneliest country in the EU, are honestly really shocking. They run contrary to many of our assumptions about Irish life. We think of Ireland as such a warm place, full of close-knit communities and community spirit, but there are so many people who fall through the cracks. Some 20% of respondents, as others have said, reported feeling lonely all or most of the time, while the EU average is 13%. My heart breaks for the one in five Irish people who feels so utterly and totally alone. If I could say something directly to those people, it is that my hope is that it is likely there are people in their lives who care about them deeply and would offer support if they were asked for it. Often, reaching out is so difficult but it can be truly life-changing. Every single person is unique, valuable and worthwhile. If you feel lonely, there are so many people who feel the same way. You are not on your own. With some courage, you might be able to find other people to share your worth. You enrich the lives of others, as they enrich yours.
I am glad the motion and the briefing notes that were circulated by Mental Health Reform make note of the commitment in the programme for Government to publish an action plan to combat loneliness. That is really good news. There are also worthwhile commitments on the topic in the Healthy Ireland strategy and the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025, and I encourage colleagues who represent the parties in government to exert themselves to make sure these commitments are fulfilled within the lifetime of this Government. This issue is just too important and too urgent to ignore.
An issue I would like to raise is the importance that public services play in countering extreme loneliness. Throughout this country, there are postmen, bus drivers, librarians and others who go above and beyond to connect with the people they serve. The conversations they often have with the people they serve can be a lifeline for people who are experiencing loneliness. I have seen this at first hand. When my mother was living on her own, it was often the postman who would stop to talk to her for a long time, and it really broke up the day for her. As the interfaces of public services become more digitised, we need to consider the impact of self-service terminals, unmanned train stations and post office closures on loneliness. We need to make sure our public services are fully accessible to older people and people who struggle with technology. We must make sure that people have the option of interacting with humans and that they are not forced to constantly use screens.
We know from the research that there are moments in people's lives when they are particularly vulnerable to loneliness. I want to highlight the example of prisoners who suffer from loneliness, as well as people who might be in recovery from addiction. It can be very isolating. There are also people who are vulnerable because of bereavement or the transitions from education to employment or employment to retirement. An action plan on loneliness should include targeted actions to support people during those crucial junctures. It must also include a strategy to support groups that are particularly vulnerable to loneliness, such as those I have just mentioned.
The increased prevalence of loneliness within the LGBT community is unsurprising given the rising levels of vile homophobic and transphobic rhetoric in our politics and in traditional and social media. Being LGBT can be a profoundly lonely experience for those who have not found other members of their community to connect with. Being different is so hard, especially when you are young and the desire to fit in is all-consuming. The issue of LGBT loneliness underscores the importance of LGBT venues and organisations, which need our support now more than ever. The marriage equality referendum and the Gender Recognition Act were massive steps forward for LGBT people and Irish society more broadly, but we cannot allow ourselves to become complacent.
We need to reflect on the root causes of this epidemic of loneliness across the developed world, where there has been a decline in the memberships of political, civic and religious organisations and trade unions. These organisations, which once structured our lives and communities and provided opportunities for career progression, volunteering, education, self-expression and socialisation, have contracted. In many cases, membership has shrunk and become passive and the organisations' functions have been almost entirely monopolised by paid staff. We can see this process in action in Irish politics, where parties sometimes struggle to find candidates and need to hire firms to erect posters and distribute leaflets, instead of this being done by party activists in many areas. The decline in civic life contributes to loneliness and a more hollowed-out, less representative political process. We need to find ways to make these important institutions more attractive to young people who are trying to navigate adulthood while searching for a sense of belonging and purpose. Taking a more grassroots activist approach may be a potential pathway forward.
To anyone out there who is feeling lonely, I can only share my own experience and encourage them to get involved in a cause they believe in. Activism has always provided me with a sense of community. It is how I met my husband and many of my closest friends. It is the best antidote to despair. All over Ireland, there are kind, intelligent people who are mobilising in response to the climate crisis, the genocide in Palestine, and against racism and division. It is a fantastic way to make that connection with people and also be an activist.
The Minister of State is very welcome. It is great to see a former colleague sitting in the Minister's chair. It gives us all hope. We were delighted to see his appointment. There is no better man than him to be in a public health role because I know of his deep commitment to public health through the work he has done to date. I wish him the very best of luck.
I commend my Green Party colleagues for tabling the motion. It is really important that we discuss loneliness. Senator Hoey outlined clearly the deep health impacts of loneliness. We speak of drug addiction, alcohol addiction and other harmful misuses of substances, such as smoking, but we are not having the same discussion about loneliness, even though it has very similar health impacts. There is its impact on cardiovascular health and brain health. During the pandemic, the isolation that people felt had a huge impact on their brain health and, oftentimes, their capabilities slipped. It was really drastic to see. We all know of people who went downhill and older people were far more susceptible to loneliness during the pandemic. That is really scary.
I want to touch on a couple of groups that have not really been mentioned here today. Lone parents are at risk of loneliness, particularly those who have children with special educational needs. They can find it very difficult to even get out of the house, take part in any activity in their community or take part in employment in the community. It can be very difficult. In many parts of the country, unfortunately, we do not have support services in place for lone parents and particularly lone parents of children with special educational needs. It can be very difficult. There is an impact on the lone parent, as well as the knock-on impact on the children in the family.
Another group is new mothers. We all know how overwhelming new motherhood can be. It can be a very lonely and vulnerable time in a woman's life. It is supposed to be the best time of your life but, for many people, it is actually the worst. They struggle with their mental health, loneliness and isolation. Unfortunately, I have seen it time and time again in my own area of north County Dublin, where we have a booming population. The public health nurses are under pressure. Part of their remit is to visit new mothers to check on things such as mental health struggles.
The friendship and support that public health nurses give to new mothers is really important but because they are under-resourced and understaffed, they do not have the time to spend to chat with people. The Department should consider allocating more resources for public health nurses who serve young and old alike in the community.
Older women are at particular risk of loneliness. Women often outlive their husbands. They may be widowed at a relatively young age and find themselves living alone for the first time in their lives. It can be very hard for many of them to adjust to that. I am very glad to see the growth of women's sheds across the country. The ICA has existed as an organisation for many years. We have very active ICAs in north County Dublin, in Swords, Lusk and Balbriggan. They do great work bringing women together and organising outings. They provide friendship and support. I would like to see extra resources being allocated for groups like that. Mother and toddler groups play a huge role in combating loneliness in communities.
The message today is that communities need to be resourced to help those within the community. Community gardens are a great way of supporting communities. We have a fantastic one in Skerries called Floraville. It is just a pocket in off the street. It is not specifically for children; anybody can go in. It has benches allowing people to sit, have a cup of coffee and chat. There is space for people to walk around and for kids to run around. It is a welcoming space for all in the community and that should be replicated across the country. I wish the Minister of State the best of luck and I thank him for taking the time to come in and listen to us. We are all committed to combating loneliness.
Well done to the Acting Chairperson on chairing this debate. I was listening to it in my office before I came into the Chamber and it has been wonderful to hear the contributions from everybody around the place. We have heard wonderful stories of people in societies and communities. I congratulate Senator Pauline O'Reilly and her colleagues on tabling this worthwhile motion.
There was a very important conference recently in Roscommon town under the auspices of LEADER and the Suck Valley Group. We had two wonderful days of interactions and discussions. There were young and not so young people involved. We need to realise that loneliness affects people of all ages. I know we talk a lot about older people living alone being lonely, which is true. However, it also affects many young people. We should realise that younger people growing up get confused about life and confused about the world we live in. They can often be quite lonely and find it hard to discuss it with anybody.
I pay tribute to the Minister of State on his promotion. He has been very strong on health issues and has been very involved in the health committee. I know that he will champion this cause of loneliness and bring the debate forward. I am confident that he will come up with proposals and ideas to help address loneliness.
Technology has helped greatly with elderly people being able to send texts, emails and all that. There is another side to that. When people had a problem with an ESB bill or a phone bill, they used to be able ring up and talk to an operator. However, that has disappeared and has caused problems particularly for older people living on their own. Nowadays people are asked to press "1", press "2" etc. or hold for an operator and the operator might never come. In one case, a lady told me that she kept the phone conversation going with the lady on the other end because she was lonely. Nobody would ever think of that happening.
Senator Pauline O'Reilly mentioned farming. I come from a farming background and was reared on a farm. Sometimes technology causes a difficulty for older people. Men, in particular, could not handle technology, which made them feel pretty useless. It also brings an element of loneliness into their lives. As a number of Senators have mentioned, incredible work is being done by women's sheds and men's sheds. Men's sheds have been really important because I would say more men than women suffer from loneliness. They have been an amazing development and are in virtually every town now. The Government is funding them and will continue to fund them. Women's sheds have now started and are very important.
I would also like to mention the daycare centres run by community groups, such as in Strokestown, Elfin and Kilbride in my own area and I could name many more throughout the county. Senator Dolan would know them and Senator O'Reilly knows them in Galway as well as well. Many volunteers are involved in those centres. People come to the centre and have a subsidised dinner there. They have discussions there. They go on outings during the summer. They bring in people to talk about different aspects of life, their rights, their pensions, fire safety in the home and all those things. They play a very important role in ensuring that loneliness is not worse in our society.
Senator Clifford Lee mentioned new mothers. For many years a lot of us might not have appreciated that many mothers after the birth of a baby can go through a very upsetting and depressing time. I do not believe that was fully understood for a long time. Thankfully, that is now understood.
Our postmen and postwomen do an incredible job as was mentioned by Senator Hoey and Senator Black. They go way beyond the call of duty, particularly in rural areas to make sure they call in on people. Sometimes they may not have a postal item, but they call to the person living alone to make sure they are all right. They should not be forgotten either.
Community gardaí are also important. Sometimes a garda will get on their bicycle on a good day and go around to people in the countryside, particularly people living on their own or people who might be vulnerable to make sure they are okay.
It is a great motion and I think we can develop it. We can do a lot for lonely people. We are now turning it into a national debate which will be welcomed by many people. The Sound of Silence was the title of a great song by Paul Simon. Of course, that song refers to the fantastic world of silence, which at times can be good in a mad world including sometimes in the Houses here when we are trying to do so much. Of course, the sound of silence has a different meaning for many people. That silence often matches up with loneliness. I say well done to Senator Pauline O'Reilly and I thank the Minister of State for being here. I hope that we can work together as a group and make progress on this matter.
I welcome our new Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke, in his new role with responsibility for public health in the Department of Health. As colleagues have mentioned, for many years he has advocated on health issues and fought for many people in the health area.
There has been an increase in loneliness. Earlier I was looking at an article in The Irish Times - my computer has just gone on the blink now. It referred to a sociologist who spoke about a major increase in loneliness particularly after the Covid pandemic. The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, TILDA, shows an increase in loneliness and isolation particularly in older people. It also refers to the impact it has on physical and mental health outcomes.
There is a clear link between loneliness and isolation and poor health outcomes. There is something that the Government can do here because we have the data and statistics on the impact of loneliness on people.
I thank my colleagues in the Green Party for tabling this motion. It is excellent that we are having this really rich debate. Everyone in the Chamber has brought different and new ideas about how we and the Government can tackle this. I come from a relatively small town in a rural area. One of the challenges I see at a local level that ties in with this increase in loneliness is a lack of engagement in volunteering. Senator Black talked about people's civic engagement and the effects of Covid. We also discussed a Fine Gael motion last week on smartphones and screen time and the impact they have on young people and indeed, people of all ages, in terms of increasing anxiety and isolation. We are also seeing that people are not getting involved and active in their local communities; they are not volunteering. Volunteering can mean giving a few hours to community groups, day care centres, and charity shops, including those shops with great pre-loved outfits. There is something missing, and that is something the Government needs to explore. It is something that has been highlighted.
There is a lot of investment by the Department of Rural and Community Development, particularly in smaller towns. The towns and villages programme is specifically targeted at towns with populations of less than 10,000. One area of investment is in the development of green spaces. Some of the funding in Roscommon and Galway was for parks and green area in places like Monkstown and Castleplunket. Funding was provided for other areas across the country. It is all about having spaces where people can come together, as well as community hubs which can be multipurpose spaces where different activities take place. All of this is about the regeneration of our local areas, many of which have been a little bit forgotten by those in our larger urban centres. That type of funding is really crucial but it still does not really address the challenge around volunteering. I would like to hear the Minister of State's thoughts on this. How can the Government support people in our towns and villages to engage in volunteering?
Under the Department of Social Protection we have the community employment, CE, scheme, the rural social scheme, RSS and Tús. Under these programmes, people can get an income while working on community projects in their local areas. There is an opportunity here to work with CE supervisors and supervisors of these other schemes on the types of activities in which they get involved and work on. An awful lot of funding is for capital projects - for buildings and other things - but we also need funding for facilitators, liaison officers and people who can work with local communities. Sometimes it only takes one magic person and we all know who they are. In any town or village, there is always one amazing person who goes over and above. Usually that person is employed, often by a community development group, but he or she does about 10,000 different things outside of the normal nine-to-five working day.
The Suck Valley Way held a conference in Roscommon recently and the theme was loneliness. Councillor Anthony Waldron was really involved in that. Senator Martin Conway attended the conference. One of his proposals was to consider how we work with our local authorities. The Minister of State has responsibility for public health. I am interested to hear about how his Department engages with local authorities like Roscommon or Galway County Councils on public health and public health measures like providing support for facilitators or liaison officers on particular projects or activities in local areas.
In terms of the challenges around loneliness, one major issue that has already been mentioned is bereavement. Bereavement supports are essential. The HSE has highlighted everything that it is doing in this area and the charity Alone is also very much involved. It is extremely hard for couples, particularly after many decades together, to engage and become part of a local community again and to get involved. We need to provide bereavement supports for people, for families and friends who cannot manage so well when these things happen.
Another issue to highlight in the context of supports, which could be considered in a cross-departmental way, is funding for clubs, sports organisations, swimming pools and so on. This is under the remit of the Department of sports but it affects both rural and urban areas. Funding for arts and crafts, including music, is so important. We have an amazing musical society in Ballinasloe. We have an amazing drama society and every Christmas we have a pantomime. All of the children get involved. All of the parents come along with their children and get involved too. There needs to be an understanding that the funding of these types of activities tackles loneliness. It encourages volunteers; it encourages people to come out, get involved and enjoy meeting others and knowing what is going on in their local areas.
Again, I thank the Minister of State for being here. I also thank the Green Party for tabling this motion.
Originally, I was not going to speak on this topic. When I saw that the Green Party had tabled a motion on loneliness, I thought that was interesting. Then I read the motion and realised that what it calls for is absolutely critical within society. As Senator Boyhan said, we have many action plans to tackle loneliness in this country but we have not had any action around those plans. It is really important that the focus is on what we can do in the here and now and what is doable by the Minister of State's Department. The Oireachtas Traveller committee is currently discussing the doable wins, the small wins and what we can do in the short term. I wish the Minister of State all the luck in his new role and I look forward to working with him.
Being poor is lonely. Living on a halting site and being pushed away from society is lonely. Children being bullied in school is lonely. Not having food to feed your children and not being able to participate or thrive in society is lonely. Senator Clifford-Lee spoke about new mothers but there are little or no services for women who have post-natal depression in this country. We are talking here about loneliness and unfortunately, one in five people experience it. Senator Black mentioned people in prison who may never get a visitor or who may never get money to be able to go to the shop. I also think about children losing one of their parents. Senator Dolan spoke about bereavement and I thought about suicide rate in the Traveller community. One in 11 deaths among Travellers is caused by suicide. Obviously, that starts off with loneliness and isolation. Someone can be in a room full of people and still feel lonely. One could be in Croke Park on all-Ireland final day and still feel a sense of loneliness because of one's mental health or the situation one is in at the time.
In order to deal with loneliness we need wraparound public health supports. The accident and emergency departments all over the country are full to capacity. It might seem like a different subject but we need adequate counselling services and addiction services. I welcome the fact that Deputy Burke is in his current role and I hope to see positive changes around mental health and well-being. One of the root causes of loneliness and isolation is the feeling of being other within Irish society. Being a carer and sometimes being a mother can be very lonely, particularly if one chooses to be a stay-at-home mother.
That can be very lonely for many women.
This is a subject we could talk about at length. When I first saw the motion, I questioned it and wondered what it was about. This is an important issue and it is a route to mental health in our society. It is important to examine services. It is pointless having an action plan if we do not carry out the actions required and invest in communities. Local authorities, community groups, men's and women's sheds and toddler groups for parents are all really important.
I refer to sport in local communities. I live in Ardara, County Donegal. We assume people in rural Ireland are not poor and get involved with local GAA clubs and everything that goes along with that. There is an awful lot of pressure on families to pay money to clubs. It is difficult to pay for activities for young people.
Being born into poverty to a family that is constantly struggling is also loneliness and we have to deal with that. Tonight, there is a child in a hotel room in this country who is lonely, even though they go to school every day, because they do not have a sustainable home or friends and do not know what is ahead of them tomorrow. This is a major issue. To a certain extent, it is complex. I welcome the motion and thank my colleagues for bringing it forward today.
I thank the proposer of the motion for putting it forward. It is important, not only in terms of loneliness and the mental health issues that stem from that, but also in terms of the other health issues that can be a consequence of loneliness for all age groups. It is important that we recognise this as a problem. As outlined in the motion, Ireland is classified as the loneliest country in Europe. Never have people been more connected, yet never have they been more disconnected.
I thank the Green Party Senators for bringing forward this motion. I thank all Senators for their constructive contributions. I believe 12 Senators contributed to the debate and I appreciate all of their contributions. The Minister for Health is not opposing the motion. Therefore, it is important that in dealing with something like this we work together and are constructive. The motion, as set out, is constructive. Each Senator who spoke put a lot of thought into their contribution.
The concerns highlighted by the Senators tabling the motion are well-grounded. Evidence shows that loneliness is a significant issue for population health and there are several studies linking loneliness to multiple chronic health conditions. Loneliness levels in Ireland are rising, and the pandemic was a major contributory factor to increases in social isolation. The Government is committed to addressing the issue of loneliness, and there are many policies and initiatives in train that work to promote social inclusion and combat loneliness on a cross-governmental basis. This includes the community mental health fund, the Little Things campaign, the national positive ageing strategy, Project Ireland 2040 and support for initiatives such as day centres, meals on wheels, older people’s councils, which are under the auspices of Age Friendly Ireland, active retirement groups and men’s sheds.
The Government also welcomes recent EU initiatives and action on loneliness, including a European Commission joint research centre report, Loneliness and social connectedness: insights from a new EU-wide survey. We will work to incorporate these insights into our policies and new service developments.
The Department of Health’s Healthy Ireland survey 2021 found a significant increase in isolation and a decrease in the proportion of the population reporting positive mental health. Some 81% reported lower levels of social connectedness and 30% reported worsening mental health since the pandemic started. In response, the Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer, supported by Healthy Ireland, developed a nationwide campaign, Hello Again World, to encourage older people to rebuild their social connections and reintegrate into their communities. This campaign was rolled out across 2023 and into early 2024.
Healthy Ireland has also developed a strategic action plan 2021-25, which sets out a roadmap for improving and supporting the lifelong health and well-being of the people of Ireland. Under this plan, social prescribing has been rolled out as an important initiative in minding your mood. Social prescribing recognises that health is heavily determined by social factors such as poverty, isolation and loneliness, and offers GPs and other health professionals a means of referring people to a range of non-clinical community supports which can have significant benefits for their overall health and well-being.
In budget 2023, €1.3 million in recurring funding was allocated for new social inclusion measures including social prescribing. HSE-funded social prescribing services are now available in 48 locations across the country. These services are delivered in partnership with community and voluntary organisations, such as family resource centres and local development companies, with one full-time social prescribing link worker per community healthcare network or Sláintecare healthy communities site.
More broadly, under the Healthy Ireland strategic action plan, a mental health promotion framework is currently being finalised, with a focus on universal and targeted mental health promotion interventions across the life course, and in key settings, to support people in protecting and enhancing their mental health and well-being and reducing mental health inequities. The Department of Health and the HSE will continue to improve the early intervention delivery of supports to promote positive mental health and recovery to adults and children, where needed.
The national mental health policy Sharing the Vision recognises that community plays a vital role in supporting people when they are experiencing mental health challenges and in combating isolation and loneliness. The mental health of older people is a priority in Sharing the Vision, with actions including improving access to mental health services for older people, promoting evidence-based digital mental health interventions in the general population and with older people and linking with the implementation of the national positive ageing strategy.
The national positive ageing strategy provides a blueprint for promoting older people’s engagement in economic, social, cultural and community life and fostering intergenerational solidarity. More than ten years on from the publication of the strategy, we have taken great strides in making Ireland a great place to grow old. This achievement was recognised in 2019, when the World Health Organization formally designated Ireland the first age-friendly country in the world.
The national positive ageing strategy’s implementation is a whole-of-government endeavour. This has been advanced through a wide range of initiatives developed and delivered in partnership with organisations in the community and voluntary sector, including Age Friendly Ireland, Age Action, Age and Opportunity and Active Retirement Ireland, to name a few. Age Friendly Ireland operates as a shared service centre of local government hosted by Meath County Council. It supports a network of 31 local age-friendly programmes which are led by local authorities and involve many stakeholders from other public bodies, universities and voluntary and private sector partners.
Under the leadership of the local authority, governance is anchored in the multiagency age friendly alliances, supported by broadly representative older people’s councils actively engaged as co-design partners. The programme has a strong focus on creating walkable, attractive and accessible communities and age-friendly spaces.
By introducing actions to address participation and inequality, it is intended that people of all ages will be supported to enjoy healthier, more active and connected lives.
The healthy age friendly homes programme run by Age Friendly Ireland with the Department of Health includes a focus on supporting older people to be and feel part of their communities. An evaluation of the programme conducted by Maynooth University has demonstrated improvements in measurements of older peoples’ self-reported health status, quality of life, loneliness, social supports, self-efficacy and functional ability. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, allocated €5.2 million in recurring funding for this new programme in budget 2023 and a national roll-out of this programme to all local authorities is under way as a result.
In parallel, the HSE, in conjunction with Alone, is continuing the roll-out of a support co-ordination service across the country. This service supports older people to live well at home independently and for as long as possible through support co-ordination and access to services, including, but not limited to, practical supports, befriending, social prescribing, assistive technology and co-ordinated linkages to local community groups in their area.
Day care centres and the meals on wheels service are also essential in supporting older people to stay connected, particularly in rural communities. Budget 2024 has seen increased investment in both areas, building on recent investment to support these services. Over €6 million is now being invested in meals and wheels to deliver close to 3 million meals per year. The Government is investing an additional €2.7 million in 2024 for approximately 320 day care services.
Lack of social engagement is a well-recognised risk factor for the development of dementia. People with dementia are more likely to be socially isolated. Staying socially active and engaged can slow the progression of dementia and can positively affect mood and a person’s overall health and well-being. In 2023, the Government allocated €2.1 million for the return to full capacity of dementia-specific day care and there are now 52 Alzheimer Society of Ireland, ASI, day care centres in operation. For 2024, the Government has allocated an additional €500,000 for in-home dementia day care for those who cannot or do not wish to attend centre-based day care. We have also allocated €300,000 to the ASI to establish weekend activity clubs for people with young onset dementia.
Community initiatives like dementia cafés provide opportunities for people with dementia and their families to stay connected or to reconnect with their communities and to share experiences with others who are in a similar situation. Although the Department of Health is primarily focused on those who have underlying health and social care needs, it also works through the HSE and in partnership with the Department of Community and Rural Development, including through Pobal, to support those who are more active within their communities. The national network of some 500 Active Retirement Ireland associations throughout the country makes a huge contribution in this area by supporting the increasing diversity of older persons to meet like-minded people and pursue their interests through a range of activities.
Several Members referred to the men’s sheds. There are currently nearly 400 active men’s sheds throughout the island, with a membership of around 10,000. Men’s sheds are reported to have a highly beneficial effect on members’ sense of well-being, connectedness and self-esteem. Within the friendly, informal and supportive environment of the shed, men can share skills, talk frankly about issues of mental and physical health, make new friends and engage with the wider community. According to an academic study, 91% of those involved in the sheds feel that participating in a shed has improved their well-being, while almost 75% feel happier in their home lives as a result of attending the shed.
More widely, public community spaces are being developed in order to increase engagement by people from all walks of life in their communities. Through the new public library strategy, The Library is the Place, the network of 330 public libraries is being positioned as a focal point within local communities where people can stay connected, informed and involved.
Despite our progress to date across government in addressing loneliness and connecting people to their communities, we recognise that we need to do more. On 21 March 2024, the independent Commission on Care for Older People was established by the Government to examine the health and social care services and supports provided to older people across the whole area of care and to make recommendations for their strategic development. The commission is chaired by Professor Alan Barrett, chief executive officer of the Economic and Social Research Institute, and is comprised of independent experts. Collectively, the members of the commission provide expertise across the areas of geriatrics, gerontology, health economics, health policy and management, primary care, health ethics, health technologies and ageing and disability, as well as representation of the community and voluntary sector and of older people.
The commission is charged with examining the provision of health and social care services and supports for older people and making recommendations to the Government for their strategic development. Subsequently, a cross-departmental group will be established under the auspices of the commission to consider whether the supports for positive ageing across the life course are fit for purpose and to develop a costed implementation plan for options to optimise these supports. Engagement and collaboration with stakeholders will be a central component of the work of the commission, including a reference group of relevant stakeholders, older people and carers. This will enable us to build on the policies and programmes in train to support connection within the community, ensuring that Ireland continues to be a great place in which to grow old.
More generally, this motion speaks to the need to prioritise actions to address loneliness across Government policies. The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025: Ambition, Goals and Commitments was published in January 2020. The roadmap is an overarching statement of Government strategy which acknowledges the range of sectoral plans already in place that have social inclusion as a core objective. This includes areas such as education, health, children and childcare, community development and housing. These plans remain key to ensuring that social inclusion is at the core of public policy and service strategy across all Government Departments and services. Ensuring that a whole-of-population approach to loneliness, across the lifespan of all and regardless of social context, remains at the core of the work of the Department of Health. There is ongoing research to develop an appropriate evidence base in order that interventions in this space are based on reliable data and are bespoke to the needs of those living in Ireland.
In terms of the call to establish an expert action group on loneliness under the Department of the Taoiseach and to publish an action plan to combat loneliness and isolation, given the variety of existing cross-governmental initiatives that are directly or indirectly relevant, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and I recognise that co-ordinated implementation would be valuable to ensure goals are met, progress is maintained, existing initiatives are recognised and duplication of effort is avoided. The Minister, Deputy Butler, is already taking the lead in ensuring a co-ordinated response from the health sector, with a specific focus on the effect that loneliness has on older people. In my new role as Minister of State with special responsibility for public health, well-being and the national drugs strategy, I will work with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to ensure that our combined approaches to addressing loneliness are co-ordinated and effective. We also look forward to working with our Cabinet colleagues, and particularly with our colleagues who have proposed this Private Members’ motion, to ensure that the collaborative and co-ordinated approach to loneliness continues and to embed positive working across Departments to deliver on our shared goal to improve the lives of people who feel alone or isolated.
A number of matters have been referred to, and 12 very good contributions have been made. Senator Murphy raised the issue of the postal workers. In the UK, for instance, there was a system whereby postal workers had a role in making the call and cross-checking. The system was called "call and check". That was in place in the UK, and we in Ireland might look at it.
The whole issue of men's sheds was highlighted and they have made a considerable contribution. A group in Ballincollig, which is a new area in my constituency, was one point away from winning the national Tidy Towns competition. A group of people go out every morning to ensure the area in which they are living is clean and tidy, and then meet for a cup of coffee afterwards. The sense of community is phenomenal. They have been at it for the past 25 years and there is a great community spirit there. That is just one area I know of and the same is happening right across the country. There is community involvement with Tidy Towns and a wide range of people are involved.
An order of nuns in the United States agreed to donate their bodies for research after they died. When the analysis was done, there were signs of dementia but while they were living, the nuns had no signs of it because they all played chess or card games, including bridge. Those things can make a contribution to people's well-being and health. That is true of bridge clubs, card clubs and chess clubs. Senators have also referred to the Irish Countrywomen's Association, ICA, which makes a significant contribution to communities.
Many Senators raised the issue in the context of farmers. Perhaps it was before some Senators were born, but in the past, farmers would go to creameries every day and got social contact. Farmers can now be on their farms from one end of the year to the other because milk is collected by lorry and there is no need for them to move outside their farms. They can be very lonely places. During the recent bad weather, I came across some farmers who were getting depressed at trying to manage and to know what was the next step they had to take in order to manage what they have. There was a level of depression and there is a need for support in that regard.
I raised the example of An Post, communities working together and all of us keeping an eye on one another. During the Covid-19 pandemic, there were challenges for people who were living alone.
Senators also raised the example of lone parents, widows and widowers. It can be a lonely time for people when the level of support that should be in place is not in place. It is a matter that a number of Senators raised, and it is an important one.
I again thank Senators. I look forward to working with them to bring forward further change in this area. One thing that has changed in Ireland is that families are smaller and, therefore, the level of contact outside of the family is not there. The children of some families are now living abroad, which is a challenge. One problem that is going to come down the road in the next ten or 15 years relates to people who now live here having come from abroad. Ireland is great because if people run into a difficulty with their health, there is a family hub around them. Many people who have come in from abroad do not have that family hub around them. I recently came across that issue and it is a problem and challenge we are going to face in the next ten or 15 years.
I again thank Senators. I thank the Green Party for bringing forward the motion and I thank all Senators for their contributions. I look forward to working with them in the coming 12 months.
I thank the Minister of State. I call Senator O'Reilly to reply. She has five minutes, and I thank her for this very thoughtful motion.
Every time you put forward a motion or a Bill, you worry that people will not get it and will not understand how vital it is to bring forward an issue and to bring solutions to the surface. I thought at the start that I might be standing here alone, a Billy No-Mates, but everybody, from all political groupings, has been passionate about this issue. It does require a little thought. I mentioned to several people that I was bringing forward a motion on loneliness and they had a look in their eyes to ask how it is a political issue. Social connection is the most important thing we have as human beings. If we get it wrong, it has detrimental impacts on our society, and if we get it right, it can be what makes a successful country work. We have not been getting it right and that is the reality, according to the statistics. Despite the various attempts that have been made and the funding that has been put in place, we have not quite got there.
I am a mother of teenagers. If we were to ask most parents what their deepest concern is, it is not about their children's grades but is about how they will be with other people in the world. That is what occupies parents' minds.
Many people talk about young people, particularly young girls, and say they are too obsessed with what other people think of them, with the importance of likes on social media and so on. In actual fact, being respected, valued and loved is important to one's sense of self. If we are not giving it to people in other ways, of course they are going to look for a different avenue on social media to get that validation. We have to do a better job at an earlier age.
I am from a rural family but now live in urban Ireland. I am in the European Parliament constituency of Midlands-North-West. Regardless of whether you live in a big city, a small town, suburbia or rural Ireland, you come across people who feel isolated, as many of the Senators have pointed out. What sparked off this issue for me was a question to The Irish Times. A correspondent told the newspaper about being "alone pretty much all the time" and not expecting the situation to get any better as he or she gets older. The correspondent also spoke of the reactions that some people had. They told the correspondent just to get out and join a club. If you join a club, however, and do not receive respect or validation, it is much worse and puts in place something that can spiral out of control.
We have to put investment into clubs, green spaces and park benches. We must also put investment into people themselves so that they have confidence and so that we understand what it is to connect with people socially and what it is to give other people respect such that in a classroom of 30 people, there is not somebody who feels deeply alone and lonely every day. Those people exist all around us.
I thank all of the Senators for their contributions. Many Senators, including Senator Boyhan, mentioned the importance of mandating local authorities, which we were keen to put into our motion. We are coming up to local elections and now is the time for people, political parties and groupings to say what they will do if they are elected to councils.
Senators Malcolm Byrne and Hoey mentioned canvassing. We meet people very day. In fact, we have a very privileged position because we are very rarely on our own. We get to connect with people. A journalist came with me on the campaign trail in 2019 to see how I canvassed. I warned him in advance that I tend to talk a lot at the doors and do not get to many of them. The article stated that I was not joking in that respect. People want to talk, they really do, and we all know that.
It was important for Senator Black to point out that some people listening to this debate are feeling a sense of isolation and loneliness and it is important for us to give practical steps about what they can do. Many of my connections have come through activism, including through the Repeal movement and environmentalism.
It is about finding individuals who think similarly about an issue to oneself and who are really passionate about improving it for other people. Having been a new parent at one point in my life, I am of the view that it is the loneliest one will ever feel in life when one is taking that new step. I thank Senator Clifford-Lee for pointing that out. The point about technology was valuable in the context of how isolating digitisation is if someone feels they are not where everybody else is, namely on social media. One is not seeing a cashier in a bank or seeing post office clerks and so on, which was mentioned by Senators Murphy and Black.
I thank Senator Flynn because being poor - poverty, as the Minister of State pointed out - is an underlying factor for an awful lot of people. When everything else is going okay for someone he or she can find it within themselves to join a club, to go to meet other people and speak with confidence but if one's number one overriding feeling is that he or she has to put food on the table then that has to come first for people.
I thank the Minister of State. It is great to see him in this role because it is perfectly suited to him. I could see the passion in how he spoke towards the end. I am delighted he mentioned that he will work collaboratively with those of us who brought forward the motion, but it is quite clear that many Senators feel committed to the issue now and welcomed the opportunity to speak about it. I thank everybody. I also thank the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, for not opposing the motion. As Senator Flynn quite rightly pointed out, it is time for action. We do get weary of more and more action plans, but I have the sense we are going beyond that point now.
I take this opportunity to welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him. This was my first opportunity to see him in the House in his new role. I agree that his passion will be very much present in how he deals with his brief.
Question put and agreed to.
When is it proposed to sit again?
Tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar athló ar 5.25 p.m. go dtí 9.30 a.m. Déardaoin, an 2 Bealtaine 2024.
The Seanad adjourned at 5.25 p.m. until 9.30 a.m. on Thursday, 2 May 2024.