Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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A special allocation of €35m for mental health was provided in Budget 2012 in line with commitments in the Programme for Government. Funding from this special allocation will be used primarily to enhance both General Adult and Child and Adolescent Community Mental Health Teams, improve access to psychological therapies in primary care and implement suicide prevention strategies.

It is planned that 414 staff will be recruited to the mental health service to deliver on these objectives. In order to establish this figure, a detailed gap analysis of the present composition of 185 Community Teams had to be undertaken. The exact staffing requirement including the discipline, grade and number relating to each team in all of the four main regions was identified as quickly as possible after the HSE National Service Plan was approved by the Minister. HSE approvals have already issued to three of the four Regional Directors of Operations for the filling of posts in their areas. One further approval is expected to issue in the near future. The process of recruitment commences immediately on approval. It is proposed that the new professionals will be drawn from existing National Recruitment Service panels where available and new competitions will be established for the remaining posts. Appointments to these posts are expected to commence in the coming weeks and the majority of them should be filled over the summer months.