Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will use approximately four minutes initially, allow three minutes for the Minister of State to reply and an Teachta Donnelly will come in after that.

Under this Government we have gone from a mental health crisis to a mental health emergency. There are 2,500 children and young people waiting for child and adolescent mental health services. More than 8,500 children are waiting for a primary care psychology service. Behind each of those figures is a child with a family who is being left behind.

When will the Government provide the early interventions that are key to a child's development and stop failing our children? Since 2017, under Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Governments, 242 children have been admitted into adult psychiatric services, with almost 30 of those children admitted in the first ten months of last year. When will this Government stop that draconian practice and stop failing our children yet again?

I ask for clarity from the Government as to when the HSE service plan will be released. Many organisations in the charities sector have got in touch with me. They are waiting to find out if there will be sufficient levels of funding this year to be able to provide essential mental health services in our communities. NGOs and the communities they serve need urgent clarity on that funding.

The Government and the HSE have entered into a surge capacity deal with private hospitals. The deal between the HSE and private hospitals will allow the health services to use up to 30% of private hospital capacity. Why did the Government fail to deliver the same deal for mental health provision during Covid-19? I have written to the Minister of State and asked her to consider this solution to help with the mental health emergency people are experiencing right now. This would take pressure off public hospitals, which are dealing with the Covid-19 emergency, and it would provide essential care for people suffering mental health problems. People suffering with mental health problems are still arriving at accident and emergency departments because they have no alternative service. The accident and emergency department is not the right environment for anybody experiencing a mental health episode.

I acknowledge the Minister of State's response to my correspondence in which she stated that she would investigate the use of surge capacity for mental health purposes. What stage is that investigation at? When will the decision be made? People need help right now and they need access to emergency mental health care on a 24-7 basis in order to get the care they need when and where they need it.

There has been mention of people suffering from eating disorders but such people would benefit from this surge capacity right now. There are currently only three beds in the State reserved for adults with eating disorders. The Government has failed in its promise to deliver specialist eating disorder teams in each of the nine community healthcare organisation areas. I welcome the Minister of State's comments on new funding coming down the line next year but people need help right now. Could surge capacity be enabled for people suffering from eating disorders?

Funding for mental health as a percentage of the overall health budget has fallen from 16% in the 1980s to 6% in 2019. I got a response to a parliamentary question this morning that indicates the spending was 5.2% of the overall budget last year and it will fall again this year. During a national emergency, it is an absolute scandal that the percentage allocated to mental health spending has fallen. Sláintecare recommends 10% of the health budget should go to mental health services and international best practice recommends up to 16%.

The Government announced in its budget last year an additional €4 billion for health spending, which is very welcome, but mental health services received just 1% of this additional spending. People are sick of the platitudes when it comes to mental health. The "we are all in this together" brigade is not washing with people any more. When will the Government put its money where its mouth is and bring mental health spending up to international standards? We are a First World country with a Third World mental health system.

Who in the HSE has budgetary control of the funding for mental health? The programme for Government indicated that the reappointment of a HSE director for mental health would be examined but why has this appointment not happened? I also welcome the news about the monitoring committee for the Sharing the Vision policy. Has an implementation committee been set up to implement the 100 recommendations in Sharing the Vision? The news I have heard is that it has not been set up. Mental health services seem to be the very definition of a Cinderella service and without mental health, there is no physical health.

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