Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Budget 2019 made allowance for an additional €55 million for mental health services. This comprised €20 million continuing cost in 2019 of developments initiated in 2018, combined with €35 million for further new developments. Since 2012, the mental health HSE budget has been increased by almost 40%.

This investment has enabled the HSE mental health services to progress initiatives outlined in the National Service Plan 2019. Initiatives such as e-mental health pilot programmes and clinical programmes in areas such as eating disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, continue to be developed and implemented with this funding. Funding is also provided in 2019 to plan for the opening of the new national forensic mental hospital.

To date, the HSE has drawn down €30 million of the foregoing funding, and an application for a further €10 million is currently being processed. In addition, €3 million has been paid to Pobal for the community mental health fund.

The management of the remaining €12 million funding for 2019 will be agreed with the HSE in the coming weeks.

I reassure the Deputy that mental health continues to be a priority area for the Government. We recognise that mental health service users are often among the most vulnerable in society and, for this reason, in budget 2020 the Government maintained its commitment to mental health with an allocation of more than €1 billion.

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