Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 10 March 2022

Public Accounts Committee

Mental Health Services - Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Ms Yvonne O'Neill:

There are nurses coming through in terms of higher education courses but it is worth noting that through the mental health budget, we have also funded additional training. There is a four-year training course and I think the first cohort of graduates from that will come through this year. We acknowledged a number of years ago that the supply was not going to be enough. As we grew our mental health services in line with A Vision for Change, we just did not have enough capacity coming through so we are now seeing those cohorts coming through as a well and, as Mr. Reid noted, we have invested in higher specialist training, nurses and the employment of assistant psychologists.