Letters: Government TDs must be held to promise to improve nation’s mental health as part of Sláintecare

She is right, and we also need more upstream services: preventive interventions, broader psychological programmes in primary care, expanded community services, and joined-up social support.

Over recent years, it is encouraging to see increased focus on lifestyle measures to support wellbeing, but we must also acknowledge the lived realities of severe mental illness.

There are effective treatments for conditions such as schizophrenia, provided multi-disciplinary services are accessible and available.

At present, less than 6pc of the health budget is devoted to mental health.

Sláintecare commits the Government to “ring-fence at least 10pc of the health budget to mental health, and 3pc to health and wellbeing”.

There was cross-party support for Sláintecare.

With a general election less than 18 months away, this is the perfect time to ask every public representative: “Will you honour your party’s commitments to mental health in Sláintecare?”

Brendan Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin

It’s clear our population increase in two decades has landed us in chaos

It should be no surprise to anyone that Ireland has major problems due to the huge increase of population which has taken place over the last 20 years.

Passing “hate” legislation cannot wallpaper over the cracks which has been obvious in Dublin society since the 1970s.

Successive governments have failed to deal with the “northside/southside” Dublin divide.

With the EU expansion from 2004, 15 members to 27, the EU population increased to 448 million.

All of those people all have the right to move and work within EU boundaries, and there are talks of further expansion.

Following Brexit, Ireland is the only English-speaking county left in the bloc, making it more an attraction in terms of the movement of people.

The population of Ireland was 3.8 million in 2000, it is now over five million, and our health and housing systems at breaking point, unable to cope.

When you add in overseas students, and non-EU citizens with work permits, refugees and asylum-seekers, you have a recipe for chaos and instability.

The present situation is catastrophic for those on relatively low incomes – especially the elderly, and those who want start a family with a permanent home of their own.

What most people want is a sense of fairness and a reasonable hope that their needs as an Irish citizen, as is outline in the Constitution, are met.

The social housing lists, which used to be time-based, are not transparent – with some people on the list for 10 years without an offer.

NGOs and housing charities seem to have the greater say in who gets priority for available social housing.

Those in full-time employment on €35,000-€40,000 incomes are marginalised, becoming victims of despair knowing that their chances of ever finding a place to live are limited by lack of housing and high rents hindering them from saving for a mortgage.

The “left far behind” need to be listened to, not preached at. The day of the pulpit should not be resurrected by those whose incomes of €150,000+ are cushioned from the effects of this increase in population.

Irish politicians seem more worried about Ireland’s reputation abroad than dealing with problems staring them in the face.

Nuala Nolan, Galway

Arab lives seem to matter less in Israel’s unwinnable war of destruction in Gaza

What’s pitiful about the war in the Middle East is that Israel has found itself in an unwinnable situation. The total obliteration of Gaza will never bring victory, but instead, less safety and security to the Israeli people.

We, Arabs, always say America is our strategic partner and that we have strategic, economic and historic partnership with America, and it is the only country which can exert its leverage on Israel.

Just two days ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that from October 7, America has sent 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells to Israel, yet it has urged the latter to avert civilian casualties.

What if the women and children were Westerners? Why are Arab and Muslim lives worth less than their human counterparts?

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob, London

Billy Keane has, no doubt, saved many people thanks to his honest, kind writing

Billy Keane (‘Be nice, at the very least, to those who need love. Nice is not too high a bar. Say hello – or just smile’, Irish Independent, December 2) modestly tells us that as a journalist he can’t do much about the mess that the world is in. He goes on to say, “I do get the chance, in some small way, to help out”.

Over the years, through his honest writing, about his own life, this man has, without doubt, saved many lives.

Mattie Lennon

Blessington, Co Wicklow

If Sinn Féin is the party of law and order, then satire is truly dead and buried

Writing about the late Henry Kissinger (who many perceived to be an amoral war-monger) Tom Lehrer, the song-writer and satirist, wrote: “Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”

With Sinn Féin, which regularly reaffirms its support for the IRA and its atrocities, and now posturing as a party of law and order, satire is not just obsolete, it is dead and buried.

Anthony O’Leary, Portmarnock, Co Dublin

Eamon Ryan’s flights to and from Cop28 for vote add to bad optics on climate crisis

The decision by Environment Minister Eamon Ryan to travel back to Dublin from Dubai for a Dáil vote and then return to Cop28 says a lot about the climate crisis.

Of course a “double Irish” of flights here and there isn’t going to make diddly-squat of a difference to the planet’s temperature. But the optics are poor not just for the Green Party but the Government – a bit like Ireland’s pathetic contribution to the €25m “loss and damage fund” for the next two years for poorer countries affected by climate change.

​Aidan Roddy, Cabinteely, Dublin 18