Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy very much. I am going to tell her because I think it is important. Back in 2012 only about €700 million a year was spent on mental health. This year, for the first time it will be more than €1 billion. Since my party came to office, there has been a 44% increase in funding for mental health. Unfortunately, I doubt that future Governments will be able to do quite as well as that but I have no doubt that they will try.

A Vision for Change ran out in 2016. There is a successor document, which was approved by the Cabinet last Thursday. The Minister of State, Jim Daly, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, intend to publish that, I think, next week. That will really inform the actions of the next Government. There is a commitment to establishing an independent monitoring body in the document.

The plan is to publish the new refreshed document, already approved by Cabinet, next week and to allow the new Government to establish an independent monitoring body for that to hold our feet to the fire and to make sure that it gets implemented.

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