Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the fact that €20 million announced in mental health funding has not been spent. In budget 2022, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, announced €10 million in mental health community funding. Mental health services groups have said that they have tried to access this funding ahead of the Christmas period, which is particularly busy for them, but have found the process overly complicated and time-consuming. In response to some of the groups, even the HSE is embarrassed by how cumbersome the process is; it has said "don't shoot the messenger" and argued that the issue lies with the Department. The fact that mental health services providers, who are crying out for resources, cannot access the funding ahead of one of their busiest times is made even worse with the confirmation that the €10 million pandemic mental health fund announced last February also remains unspent and will not even become available for groups until 2022. The Minister of State is now saying that mental health services groups should not have been applying for the fund and that the fund would have been allocated to Mental Health Ireland. This contradicts the emails received by mental health services groups from the Department telling them to access this funding. We know that mental health services were already underfunded prior to the pandemic but as Senator Black was saying, the restrictions, anxiety and pressure on livelihoods have taken a huge toll on the mental health of many people. It beggars belief that health services working at the coalface cannot get their hands on any of the €20 million in funding that is supposedly available. It underlines the need for multi-annual funding for mental health services so that they can appropriately plan and adapt. Applying for one-off funding is time-consuming and is not the best way to run the essential services they operate. I ask the Leader to write to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to request an update on how the delays in releasing this funding are being addressed, including making the application process more user-friendly and clarifying who is allocating this money. Are mental health services providers to go to the HSE or to Mental Health Ireland? I would also like the Minister of State to tell us whether she will commit to rolling out multi-annual funding for mental health services in the future.