Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, is calling for urgency to be injected into the weekly meetings of the Stormont House Implementation group.

Speaking at the start of national Mental Health Awareness Week, Mr Nesbitt pointed to the commitment to improving mental health and wellbeing as an example of the failure of implementation, five months after the Agreement was reached in December.

Mike Nesbitt said:

“I am fed up listening to others bang on about their commitment to the vulnerable, while their actions ensure the vulnerable suffer needlessly. The Stormont House Implementation group has been on ice for weeks now, as the DUP crossed their fingers in the hope of a hung parliament, and Sinn Féin prayed for a Labour-led government. When I asked one party leader if he was going to that day’s meeting, his reply was ‘What’s the point?’ The point is we have responsibilities.

“As we kick off the 2015 Mental Health Awareness Week, it is a sad fact that practically nothing has been done to advance the Stormont House Agreement commitment in this area. Northern Ireland has one of the world’s highest rates of poor mental health and wellbeing, measured in those suffering from trauma, particularly Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, attempted and completed suicides, and drug and alcohol abuse.

“The last DLA (Disability Living Allowance) statistics I saw, reveal that 23% of our people claim because of mental health issues, whereas the percentage in Great Britain is only 12%. It is criminal that we continue to ignore that problem. These are real people who are not only vulnerable, they are suffering lost opportunities in education and employment because we are not offering them the support they need and deserve.

“I call on the other party leaders who have absented themselves from the Implementation Group table in recent weeks to return, roll their sleeves up and get on with what they are paid to do.”