Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

In response to Deputy Ó Caoláin, NESF reports go to the individual Departments and it is for those Departments to implement the proposals, many of which were taken up in the budget last week, while many others are implemented in legislation. The NESF does a good job annually in offering broad outlines of the actions it believes should be taken on various exclusion issues and other matters. Its proposals are taken on board and regularly discussed by the Cabinet sub-committees.

The NESF report on mental health is an important document that complements the Government's mental health policy, A Vision for Change. The report recommends major changes in the way mental health issues are dealt with by employers, local authorities, trade unions and, most importantly, the health sector. The underlying emphasis is on recovery in the broadest sense rather than on an exclusively medical model. That is the argument made in the report and it is made well. Its recommendations reach beyond the health sector to highlight how mental health services should be integrated within wider non-medical supports. This recommendation was fed back into my Department and a cross-departmental group has been established to consider how this can be done.

The report looked at mental health issues in the context of employment, housing, social supports and so on. Strategically, the focus is on placing community groups in the voluntary sector at the centre of efforts to move people out of institutions and into the community. This has been ongoing to some extent since the Looking Forward report in the 1980s. The changes recommended in that report were beginning to be implemented when I was a member of the health board. This report is another step in that direction. Following its initial consideration by the Government, the report's recommendations have been referred for consideration by the relevant Department. Implementation of the individual components of A Vision for Change is a matter primarily for the HSE. In July the executive established an implementation group to ensure mental health services would be developed in a synchronised and consistent way.

Deputy Kenny's first question was on the NESDO. NESC carries out strategic analysis of the economy, bringing together all the relevant participants to plan where we are and where we should go. It has been the basis of social partnership and other reports on subjects such as the welfare society and housing. It does an entirely different job from NESF, which deals with day to day legislative changes, particularly in the areas of social inclusion and macro and micro issues.

NCPP is an entirely different organisation which is trying to bring best practice to industry in terms of how it should consult, bring in change, reform and modernise. They are three different but small organisations. The benefit of bringing the three together was to share administration, which cut down massively on cost. There was one office in one place and shared administration. That is the benefit of NESDO.

On the issue of pay, as many members of Government and I have previously stated, we have a Labour Court, a Labour Relations Commission and review bodies in different areas dealing with pay. I always take the view that this House should accept recommendations of bodies it sets up. The pay review for approximately 2,000 people in the Civil Service, semi-State bodies and the Judiciary carried out by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector should be the same.

A Government has never rejected a report by this body since it was set up 1969. The recommendations of reports have been phased in, delayed or postponed but they have never been rejected. This Government will not do so either. We believe the work was done professionally and without consultation with or reference to the Government. The body decided not to take into account the private sector because it indicated the position of Government was unrelated. However, other linkages were made in the report.

We received the report in the autumn and the Government is mindful that the November Exchequer figures were not as good as hoped. The benchmarking report is imminent and we will not know its outcome until it is finished. We are in a tighter position so taking such matters into account, it is the Government's view that to go with the phasing previously looked at perhaps would not be a reasonable thing to do.

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