The mental health of workers has been a major focus of attention during two Forsa union delegate conferences in Sligo this week that are coming to an end today.
In particular, delegates called for employer action to end the stigma that continues to be attached to mental health in the workplace.
One of the Forsa delegate conferences that took place in the Clayton Hotel in Sligo this week was representative of more than 30,000 health workers.
Meanwhile, delegates to the services and enterprise divisional conference in the Radisson Blu Hotel represented more than 7,000 workers in commercial and non-commercial semi-state organisations, private companies in aviation and communications.
A series of policy motions at the health and welfare division conference included calls for the HSE to provide suicide prevention training for clerical and administrative staff working in mental health facilities.
Niall Shanahan says there has been much discussion on mental health at the conferences.
And if mental health was a conference theme, it was the stigma that still attaches to mental health that was very much the sub-theme:
However, Mr Shanahan acknowledged there has been improvements in attitudes toward mental health.
