Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully accept the Deputy's genuine concerns on the suicide figures and on youth mental health.

I also firmly believe that children have to be a priority. Funding is an issue and we must have and continue to have detailed consultation with young people. I also commit to bring the concerns expressed back to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe. The status at the moment, however, is that a cross-Government unit staffed through secondments from participating offices and agencies will operate for a three-year period. It is proposed to recruit a director for the unit. The Department of Health has agreed to fund this post, subject to the agreement of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. As approval to proceed is still awaited, I take the Deputy's point.

It has also been agreed that the participating Departments will cover the cost of their own seconded staff, subject to approval by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that Departments be allowed to backfill seconded posts. A draft job description for the director has also been prepared. It is also essential that we have a budget to drive change. It is proposed to utilise section 12 of the Public Service Management Act 1997 to create a pooled budget between participating Departments. A draft order, entitled the Public Service Management Act 1997 (section 12) (youth mental health) Order 2018, is in preparation, with an input from the Department of Health legal unit and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, OPC. This is currently being reviewed before being resubmitted to the OPC.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform raised queries - and this is partly a response to the Deputy's concerns - on this approach in December 2017. The Department of Health responded to those queries in January 2018. Further queries were then received from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on 21 June 2018 and a meeting has been scheduled between the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and officials from the Department of Health. We have to focus on this and I will bring these concerns back to the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly and, more importantly, to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

See this speech in context