Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 82: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the way she will ensure that the allocation of €25 million in 2006 and €25 million in 2007 for the introduction of the recommendations contained in A Vision for Change is allocated for this purpose in view of the fact that €23 million of the €50 million has been spent in other areas; and if she will reconsider her decision not to allocate additional resources in 2008 to continue the introduction of recommendations bearing in mind that A Vision for Change is explicit that a minimum of an additional €25 million is required annually for a six-year period to allow implementation of the mental health service expansion and improvement objectives outlined in the policy. [9504/08]

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Health Act 2004, the HSE is obliged to operate within its overall Vote. In this regard, it took steps to ensure that it met this objective in 2007 by delaying some of its planned developments, including developments in mental health.

However, I understand from the HSE that some of the mental health services funded in 2006 and 2007 will be put in place in 2008. These include the provision of eight additional consultant child psychiatry teams; the provision of 18 additional beds for children and adolescents at St. Anne's, Galway, St. Vincent's, Fairview, and St. Stephen's Hospital, Cork, to increase the bed complement from the current provision of 12 to 30 during 2008; and the construction of two 20-bed units for children and adolescents in Cork and Galway. Construction on these units is expected to commence in 2008 and be completed in 2009.

A Vision for Change is clear that new funding should follow implementation. The estimated additional cost of the implementation of A Vision for Change is €150 million over a seven to ten-year period. A total of €51.2 million has already been allocated since 2006, which represents over a third of the overall requirement.

There are substantial resources already invested in mental health. In addition to the extra funding required to finance A Vision for Change, existing resources need to be remodelled and reallocated. Implementation of A Vision for Change is dependent to a much greater extent on the remodelling of existing resources than on new additional funding. Additional investment must be phased in parallel with the reorganisation of mental health services and resources. In view of the significant additional investment in 2006 and 2007, it is entirely appropriate to pause and review the issue to ensure consolidation of the investment to date.

In the context of ever-rising demands for health resources, mental health expenditure should be closely monitored to ensure services demonstrate both effectiveness and efficiency. Before any further additional funding is provided, it is essential the HSE is in a position to demonstrate that money allocated for mental health services is efficiently used and that the substantial changes in the organisation and delivery of mental health services envisaged in A Vision for Change are progressed.

The newly established Office for Disability and Mental Health has a remit to drive the implementation of the recommendations of A Vision for Change and I will be meeting the HSE shortly to discuss what measures can be taken with immediate effect to ensure progress in this regard.

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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That is a most creative piece of presentation to cover up a lack of spending and an abandonment of the recommendations in A Vision for Change. Was the Minister of State consulted over the decision of the HSE to reallocate €23 million from 2006 and 2007 to something other than what the Government and the Minister designated it for? The Minister stated that up to early December, €51 million had been allocated in 2006 and 2007 and A Vision for Change was being implemented. We now discover that €23 million of that was hived off. When did the Minister of State sanction this change? A Vision for Change explicitly recommended non-capital investment of an additional €25 million each year for seven years.

Does the Minister of State agree that the decision to provide no extra funding for 2008 is an abandonment of that recommendation, of the Government's expressed policy of implementing all the recommendations and, in effect, of the mental health service? A Vision for Change explicitly recommended that resources, both capital and revenue, in the mental health service must be retained by it.

In January, the Irish Psychiatric Association identified 17 incidents of asset stripping of our Victorian asylums and lands over the past two years. Will the Minister of State explain why he sanctioned this as it is against expressed Government policy since 1984?

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I was not consulted in 2006 and 2007 for the simple reason I was not in this job. A Vision for Change is Government policy. As the Deputy knows, we have set up a monitoring group in the Department to closely monitor implementation of A Vision for Change. The most recent report, an interim report, for which I specifically asked on assuming this office, stated that responsibility for A Vision for Change in the HSE lacked the clarity associated with the recommended national mental health service directorate. I outlined a few more issues, all which are available in the Department. The HSE board approved its implementation plan for A Vision for Change on 14 February last. The plan outlines the key priorities which will be implemented——

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Two years later.

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy that it is too slow. The HSE now has an implementation plan.

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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It is two years since A Vision for Change was published. In those two years, the Government and the Minister regularly paraded the commitment to, and implementation of, A Vision for Change. We have now been informed the plan was only sanctioned on 14 February of this year. How can we believe anything the Minister of State says if that is the case? In early December, the Minister expressly said that €51 million was spent in 2006 and 2007 on the implementation of that plan. We now find out that €27 million was spent and not €51 million. Will the Minister of State address the issue of asset stripping?

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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As I said, the HSE board approved the implementation plan in February of this year. It includes that the definition and clarification of catchment areas be made clear; modernisation of the mental health infrastructure; community based mental health teams; child and adolescent mental health teams; mental health services for people with intellectual disability; and mental health information systems.

As I said to Deputy Reilly, the office was set up in January of this year and it will support me in exercising my responsibilities. I will meet Professor Drumm shortly and will look for a more ambitious approach. We will work in partnership with the HSE and other stakeholders to agree the implementation levels over the coming years.

I presume the report to which Deputy Neville referred was the Lie of the Land. It outlined the examples of proceeds of assets which were lost to the psychiatric services over a 20 to 25 year period. A small number of assets were disposed of in the past two years which were identified. I have asked the HSE to explain the report to me.