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

Earlier this year, I accused the Government of making announcements on additional funding for mental health supports as window dressing just to create cheap headlines and it gives me no pleasure to find out that I was right. They were not even cheap headlines; they were free headlines as the €10 million announced in additional funding for mental health supports in February remains unspent. This is not good enough as there is a complete lack of urgency on the part of the Government to provide the mental health services people need right now.

People with mental health needs who are in need of such supports have a simple ask. They want to access the services they need, when and where they need them. Why was this money not spent, when will it be spent and will the Tánaiste give a commitment that it will not be re-dressed and re-washed and presented as new money in the budget?

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