Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----from sound technicians to those who are acting, dancing and performing. That should apply. I will ask the various authorities and the Minister to investigate that, assess it and make their own analysis of what has happened here.

On the matter raised by Deputy Bríd Smith, I am not familiar with the specific service and the HSE decision to withdraw funding. Again, I am unsure if there are particular local or specific issues for why the HSE is withdrawing funding. We have provided additional funding to the HSE this year for mental health services so it should not be an issue of funding. However, there may be other issues. I will ask the Minister for Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy Butler, to check this out and work with Deputies and Senators with a view to seeing what can be done to ensure services can continue for the users of that particular service and to look at what the story is here and why this has occurred right now, in the middle of Covid. We have provided additional funding to mental health over and above - in fact, in one of our earlier announcements this year we allocated an extra €10 million to mental health and particularly for community initiatives. I do not see why this has happened here and I do not have the specific details of the centre, which the Deputy will appreciate.

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