Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

I wish to deal with the area of mental health services. On 24 January 2006, the expert group on mental health policy, established by the Department of Health and Children, published a new national mental health policy framework, entitled A Vision for Change, which was subsequently adopted by the Government and the Health Service Executive. It proposed significant changes and improvements in mental health services and a true movement of services into the community. Regrettably, since the launch of A Vision for Change there has been little or no action to implement it. Two years later, mental health service users and providers are still struggling with an outdated, fragmented and severely under-resourced system.

Mental health and related services remain the areas most neglected by the Government, thus leading to multiple infringements of the human rights of those at risk of mental health problems. There remains a widespread unavailability of psychological and social interventions as complements to medication, denying the right to the most appropriate and least restrictive or intrusive treatment. Ireland still has a high rate of hospitalisation for mental health problems due to limited community-based services. This conflicts with the right to treatment in the least restrictive environment. Specialist mental health services such as those for people with eating disorders or brain injury, remain generally unavailable outside Dublin, while access in the capital remains very limited.

A Vision for Change explicitly stated that a minimum of an additional €25 million was required annually for a six-year period to allow for the implementation of the mental health services expansion and improvement objectives as outlined in the policy. I have repeatedly asked the Minister of State about the investment. He informed me that €25 million was made available in 2006 and 2007, yet no extra money is being made available in the third year of a six-year programme.

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