Why Irish politics is nothing more than one big, dysfunctional family

Watching the leaders’ debate reminded me of nothing more than a family fighting over who gets to be in charge of the tv remote, and mud-slinging when they couldn't say what they wanted to say.

Fianna Fáil was seen as the traditional 'head of the house', in charge for countless years until Fine Gael stepped up to the plate. Being the proud breadwinner, Fianna Fáil did not step down easily, and constantly try to undermine Fine Gael's proposals, and nit-pick at their mistakes. Despite Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael having almost the exact same ideas and policies, one will never admit that the other might be doing the right thing.
Fianna Gael insists on being the nagging housewife, always making it known that they are having to clean up the other half's mess. "You put us in this position," is a favourite saying of theirs, as they try to sweep the IMF under the rug.
Labour is like the ageing great-aunt, still attending every event but has diminished severely in the past five years.
Sinn Féin comes in as the stroppy teenager, demanding independence and wanting to know when it’s their turn to get to do things. They argue that their friends in the north get to do things and that it hasn't led to any trouble so far. However the family are not prepared to forgive Sinn Fein's wild, rebellious years in the past just yet.
Renua, the Social Democrats and the Anti-Austerity Alliance are young and like the children of the family. Who of course, are never listened to.

Our next government should focus on mental health

Politicians want to know one thing in the run-up to elections: what are the main issues affecting the people, but what issue effects absolutely every member of the population? 

With one in four people in Ireland being diagnosed with a mental health illness at some point in their lives, mental health issues will affect everyone in our country. Whether it be directly or through a family member, friend, or relative, we will all ultimately be affected by a mental health condition.

If our government wants to see any real change in this small island nation of ours, we have to start changing our attitudes and approaches to mental health issues. 

According to the National Suicide Research Foundation, 554 people committed suicide last year alone. This death rate is higher than the death rate for road accidents, lung cancer and house fires combined.

We need our politicians to give us a glimpse of hope. We need to show our young people that there is more to life than finding the answer down the bottom of a bottle or in the bottom of a river. 

It is all too easy to push mental health illnesses aside and insist that the individual deal with it themselves.

Imagine if we did the same for people suffering with lung problems or in need of a kidney transplant. Telling visibly ill people that, ‘we simply do not have the services to deal with this now’ or that ‘there are things you can do to help yourself, you know…’ 

Mental health issues are like any other issue-they will not go away unless we try to solve it. We need to introduce compulsory mental health talks in schools and state funded check-ups by GPs on our mental well-being every year. 

Thousands of people in Ireland alone are suffering and how can our politicians expect us to be a strong and stable nation when its people are not?

I am just one voice urging our next government-whoever it may be-whenever it sits down to discuss possible budget cuts and to lower social spending, to consider the effects it will have on its people.

There are thousands of voices silently wishing the same thing. For themselves or for someone they love. It is only when these wishes are granted, and when these illnesses are acknowledged, that we will begin to see real change.