Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The only interpretation that can be put on the failure of the Minister of State to seek €15 million that was not provided for this year is that we had nowhere to spend it. We are talking about the implementation of A Vision for Change and we still do not have the model of 24-7 crisis intervention within the specialist mental health services in all parts of the country. Not all services are providing home treatment and there are very few crisis houses to provide alternatives to inpatient beds.

There has also been a large increase in the number of homeless people being admitted to inpatient units. In 2013, 245 people of no fixed abode were admitted to inpatient units, an increase of 40% on 2012. Mental health services in primary care, representing a core aspect of all entailed in A Vision for Change, are simply not able to cope with current demand. The Minister of State in an earlier response referred to the new counselling and primary care service. The HSE has advised us that the waiting list for this new counselling and primary care service is already building up. This service was only initiated nationally in July 2013. As of August, 211 people were waiting between three and six months for an appointment and 70 people had waited more than six months.

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