Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 24 April 2018

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Disability Funding and Disability Proofing Budget 2019: Discussion

4:00 pm

Ms Kate Mitchell:

On the mental health side, there is an obligation for Ireland to provide mental health services to all members of the community. That includes people from ethnic minority groups, including refugees. There are significant barriers there with regard to help-seeking behaviours among people from ethnic minority groups, language barriers, and being able to access appropriate and culturally sensitive services. There is a question of whether we are delivering culturally sensitive mental health services and to what extent. There is a significant amount of work to do in that area.