Greens want action group to combat loneliness
AN action group on loneliness should be established to examine the long-term effects of the pandemic on young people, Green Party senators have said.
A motion due for debate in the Seanad will call on the Government to mandate every local authority to prepare a strategy to combat loneliness and examine the impact of isolation on children and young people during the pandemic.
The motion has been put forward by Green Party senators Róisín Garvey, Vincent P. Martin, Malachai O’Hara and Pauline O’Reilly.
It ‘notes with concern’ that more than 20% of Irish people reported feeling lonely most or all of the time, the highest level in the EU, where the average is only 13%.
It also notes that nearly a third of adults over 50 feel ‘emotionally lonely occasionally, with 7% frequently experiencing loneliness.
The motion calls on the Government to establish an Expert Action Group on Loneliness to recommend best practice from other countries and legislative changes to reduce loneliness.
It says the group should sit in the Department of the Taoiseach and would have to publish a report within six months ‘on how we can stop Ireland from being the loneliest country in the EU’.
The Green party senators are calling for the group to consider in particular ‘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’.
The Seanad motion also calls on the Government to allocate a minister the specific responsibility to combat loneliness.
The Programme for Government pledged to develop a plan to tackle the problem and the Loneliness Taskforce has already criticised the plan’s lack of progress.
The Loneliness Taskforce is a coalition that includes Alone, Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, Disability Federation of Ireland, and Family Carers Ireland, and is chaired by Dr John Hillery, chair of the Mental Health Commission.
Earlier this year, the Minister of State with responsibility for Older People and Mental Health, Mary Butler, said: ‘Loneliness levels in Ireland are rising, and the pandemic was a major contributory factor. Given the detrimental impacts of loneliness, a significant body of work has been undertaken across the Department of Health and the HSE to address this.’
However, no action plan has been initiated by this Government.
‘The loneliest country in the EU’