Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I met representatives of CARMHA previously in Tipperary when I met many organisations. Addiction is a responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan. With respect to available funding for organisations that provide support to those with mental health difficulties, every organisation that wishes to apply for ongoing funding must make a business case to its local HSE CHO office. In the Deputy's case, the relevant CHO is CHO 3. As I said, there is a process in place and criteria to be met. As Minister of State, it goes beyond my function to pick up the phone and tell the HSE or any community healthcare organisation to allocate funding to a particular organisation. There are different governance issues and criteria that must be met. These are clearly set out and any organisation can apply for funding.

I will be making an announcement at the end of week on how the €10 million will be spent. The matter is currently being finalised. Community groups, departments of psychiatry, various community homes and day-care centres for those with mental health issues will all benefit from it. I wanted to bring the needs of the service user to the fore in this. There has not been a call-out for voluntary groups yet, so Deputy Ward was misinformed. I explained that to him in the House last week. The call-out will be in January and will be overseen by Mental Health Ireland. Any organisation that is affiliated to Mental Health Ireland, of which there are over 1,000, can apply for funding in January following the call-out. There will be strict criteria in relation to governance, for example, requirements that applicant organisations have a bank account, chairman and secretary. These are the normal procedures that have to be followed when taxpayers' money is being spent. Details will emerge by the end of the week. All the organisations can apply for funding early in the new year.

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