Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

Some €25 million was promised in 2006 yet only €17 million went towards developing the priorities set out in A Vision for Change. In 2007, only €10 million was allocated to the programme. The remainder was hived off by the Health Service Executive to cater for its deficits elsewhere. Was the Minister of State informed that was happening? Perhaps he will deal with that. While being interviewed on "Prime Time", he was unable to answer how much of the €50 million was spent on the mental health services and the development of A Vision for Change. Is this what we should expect from someone who has primary responsibility for the area? The Government cannot pretend that it did not know the funding allocated over the past two years for the development of the mental health services was not delivered. Blaming the HSE is not an option, as the Minister of State has political responsibility for ensuring the taxpayer's money is spent according to Government policy and he has failed in that regard.

In January the Irish Psychiatric Association published a report entitled, Lie of the Land, which revealed that money released by the State from assets in the mental health service was not being ring-fenced for reinvestment in the psychiatric service. A Vision for Change stated explicitly, as did two reports going back to the 1960s and accepted by various Governments, that resources, both capital and revenue, should remain within the service. According to the Irish Psychiatric Association, numerous countrywide examples of diversion of psychiatric services assets from the HSE include St. Canice's Hospital, Kilkenny; St. Dymphna's Hospital, Carlow; Clare mental health services; St. Stephen's Hospital, Glanmire; Donegal mental health services; Laois mental health services; Longford-Westmeath mental health services; Mayo mental health services; Sligo-Leitrim mental health services; Cavan-Monaghan mental health services; Wicklow mental health services; Tipperary south mental health services; Limerick mental health services; Louth mental health services; and Kerry mental health services. Did the Minister of State know the HSE was diverting these assets resulting in a loss of mental health services? This is explicitly contrary to his stated policy but obviously this was done with his acceptance.

Why will the report into his examination of this issue be limited to the past two years, given it has been Government policy to ring-fence funding for psychiatric services since 1984? Resources raised from the sale of surplus psychiatric hospital land should be reinvested and developed in the mental health services. This approach should include the disposal of all assets associated with psychiatric hospitals since that time. When does the Minister of State expect to receive the report? When will it be publicly available?

In 2006, 3,000 children and adolescents waited an average of 15 months for assessment, with a number of families waiting as long as four years. In 2007 waiting lists were even longer, with 3,598 children awaiting assessment, one third of whom had been waiting for more than 12 months. In 2008, with no money allocated for the implementation of change, the position can only worsen. A Vision for Change recommended 100 inpatient beds nationally for children and adolescents in five units comprising 20 beds but there is no sign of this happening.

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