Last month World Suicide Prevention Day was marked, and last week World Mental Health Day took place – it was good to see the important issues raised on these days being debated and heard.

The importance of good mental health is beginning to gain the recognition it deserves in Ireland. But it is impossible to be serious about addressing mental health in Ireland without also being serious about resolving our harmful relationship with alcohol.

Over the past ten years, progress, albeit slow, has been made towards reducing the stigma that exists around talking about mental health. It has been encouraging to see the bravery of individuals who have come forward to talk about their own experiences – it has a normalising effect on the issue and reduces the isolation of people who may feel alone in their struggles and it can encourage them to seek help.

We are also beginning to recognise and take seriously how particularly hard it can be for men to open up emotionally; the frankness of many high-profile individuals, particularly men, is changing our perspective; hearing successful and famous figures talk about their own mental health issues certainly explodes the myth that it is some kind of ‘weakness’.