Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 645: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if the Government has in the past eleven months begun implementing A Vision for Change; and when will an implementation plan be published by the Government. [43968/06]

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am committed to the full implementation of "A Vision for Change", the Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy. The Government has accepted the Report as the basis for the future development of our mental health services. "A Vision for Change" provides a framework for action to develop a modern high quality mental health service over the next 7 to 10 years.

In March 2006, I appointed an independent monitoring group to monitor progress on the implementation of the recommendations of "A Vision for Change". The group will monitor and assess progress on the implementation of all the recommendations including those which fall under the responsibility of the HSE, government departments and other relevant agencies. The Group is to submit its first annual report in mid 2007.

Implementation of the individual recommendations of "A Vision for Change" is a matter primarily for the HSE. The HSE established an implementation group in July 2006 to ensure that mental health services develop in a synchronised and consistent manner across the country and to guide and resource service managers and clinicians in making the recommendations in "A Vision for Change" a reality.

The Chairs of the implementation group and the monitoring group are meeting in the near future and following that meeting the HSE will publish a Progress Report and outline the proposed implementation programme over the 10 year life of "A Vision for Change".

Both of these groups will play an important role in ensuring that the recommendations are implemented in a co-ordinated and timely manner.

In 2006, a sum of €26.2 million was provided for the development of our mental health services in line with "A Vision for Change". A further sum of €25 million has been allocated for 2007 to continue this development.