'Invest in Life' campaign brought to Westminster
Downtown Cool FM's initiative to secure more funding for mental health services in Northern Ireland was raised by north Belfast MP Nigel Dodds at PMQs this week.
Last updated 24th Oct 2018
The DUP politician told the House of Commons the 'Invest in Life' campaign was "doing a fantastic job" in highlighting the need for extra resources.
Since September the station has been running a series of interviews with people affected by suicide in Northern Ireland and mental health issues.
We also revealed 909 people died by suicide in the province in three years between August 2013 and August 2016.
Mr Dodds backed our crusade in October and on Wednesday highlighted the issue to other UK politicians:
"Well I think it's an excellent campaign that has been pioneered by Cool FM Downtown Radio.
“I want to pay tribute to all those behind it because it’s doing an awful lot to highlight the need for extra resources to go into services helping people affected by suicide, which is one of the biggest issues on my list of priorities and for many, many people in Northern Ireland," he said.
Earlier this year the DUP entered a confidence and supply agreement with the Conservatives.
As part of that deal with Theresa May's party, one billion pounds was secured for Northern Ireland.
£50 million of that was earmarked for mental health services here but with the current political stalemate at Stormont, none of the money has yet been released.
“It’s affecting it to some extent because we don’t have ministers either Direct Rule or Executive Ministers to roll out these programmes but we hope that that will be addressed very, very soon.
“We are absolutely certain that the money will come, tens of millions of pounds for the mental health sector which will, I hope go some way to helping those affected by suicide.
“So I think that’s very positive and I’m determined to ensure that money gets delivered and is working on the ground as quickly as possible," said Dodds.
In 2015 Northern Ireland recorded the highest suicide rate in the UK, as well as the highest on record.
Mr Dodds said he is determined to tackle the issue:
“This is a massive priority for me and our party.
“It is absolutely terrible that in a modern society in 2017 that we still have these very, very high rates of suicide and mental health issues haven’t been brought out into the open or discussed in the way they should’ve been.
“That’s changing as a result of campaigns like ‘Invest in Life.'
“One of the things that we have been doing here at Westminster is obviously highlighting the fact that this is going on but also trying to get extra resources for the whole mental health sector in Northern Ireland," he said.
He stressed that campaigns such as ours are also helping to tackle the stigma associated with mental health problems and providing hope for anyone suffering in silence:
“I think it makes an enormous difference, for people to understand that there is help, there are people there who can really get them through very, very difficult times.
“People who may be having mental health issues or feeling suicidal themselves but also for families and loved ones and carers.
“In my constituency alone of North Belfast, 10% of all suicides (in Northern Ireland) take place in my constituency so that’s an enormously high proportion.
“What can we do as politicians? We can campaign on it, lobby with it, join with campaigns like ‘Invest in Life’ and get extra resources for those who are helping and caring for people affected by suicide."
We asked the north Belfast MP how urgent is it that vital funds are released:
“It’s absolutely critical.
“We know about the health service of course in all parts of the UK, particularly in Northern Ireland there are massive demands on the resources and why we wanted money ring-fenced and earmarked for mental health specifically is that sometimes, mental health services can suffer a little bit as money is diverted to other services.
"But we must ensure that this money goes to mental health resources, to helping people affected by suicide."