Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I have a question for Dr. Glynn on the issue of mental health. At present, 6% of the HSE spend in this State goes to mental health. The equivalent figure for the UK is 13%. Mental health did not get mentioned in the winter plan, yet all the expert opinion and anecdotal and indeed hard evidence from other countries seems to be that the Covid crisis is bringing in its wake a mental health crisis. As such, I am interested in hearing from the acting CMO about his thoughts on the mental health situation in this country, the question of resources and the need to resource services for what is coming down the line.