Seeing lots of "proud to be Irish" tweets after last nights #LateLate. Proud? Of the state relying on ppl to dip into their pockets to donate nearly €2m to fund essential health services our taxes should be paying for? And we think that& #39;s fine? I& #39;m not proud, I& #39;m embarrassed.

That& #39;s not taking away from the kindness or generosity of people - that is indeed something to be proud of and should be cherished. But we really need to start setting our sights a bit higher than this.

I have donated to Pieta in the past; I will do so in future because people I love have used their services. I could have done with a service like theirs years ago. But this acceptance of ours on the reliance on fundraising for badly needed services like this has to stop.

The govt has, I believe, tried to look after people during Covid; but kites are flying about austerity and we all know who suffered most under austerity last time, and who prospered as a result. If you genuinely care about mental health, demand better from your representatives.

I didn& #39;t expect this reaction... https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😮" title="Face with open mouth" aria-label="Emoji: Face with open mouth"> Thanks for replies & engagement. Need to park it now for a wee while. Maybe we can speak to our politicians about this, because we can do better. Difficult days lie ahead; people will need support. That should be a right, not reliant on charity

One last thing: I do sit on the board of a small charity that relies on fundraising (and is struggling to be heard rn). I& #39;m still allowed to think we can & should do better at a national policy level than band-aiding essential services rather than insisting the state steps up