Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the very important issue of mental health, particularly youth mental health. This week, the Government will consider the new A Vision for Change document that the Deputy referred to. A lot of work has been put in by a lot of expert people on this and I hope, subject to Government approval, to be in a position to publish that next week. I know that is something the Deputy and her colleagues have been looking for as well and they have written to me in that regard.

I want the Deputy to know I take this crisis extremely seriously. This pandemic will have had a real and lasting impact on the mental health of all people in this country, particularly younger people. I will not go through all the funding allocations in the time available to me but I will write to the Deputy about that. I agree with the Deputy about the need to try to provide more mental health supports at primary care level. We have introduced a new grade for an assistant psychology post within the HSE and we have seen significant and positive impacts come from that. We had seen the CAMHS waiting lists fall before this pandemic. We need to see more progress in that and I will write to the Deputy this week detailing what further measures I intend to take.

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