Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The programme for Government is very explicit about mental health. It states that the Government intends to fully implement A Vision for Change and that it will base health expenditure on multi-year budgeting supported by a five year HSE service plan based on realistic, verifiable projections. At Question Time yesterday, Deputy Brown asked the Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for mental health, Deputy MacEntee, about the allocation to mental health for 2017. It is a classic case of the rhetoric being good, of language camouflaging the reality, because to fully implement A Vision for Change would cost €35 million per annum but it has been some time since we have had an update on A Vision for Change. Deputy Brown was told yesterday that only €15 million will be spent in 2017 on A Vision for Change. I put it to the Taoiseach------

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