Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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482. To ask the Minister for Health the number of mental health posts that were approved in 2013 and still remain unfilled. [4899/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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In 2013, a special allocation of €35m and 477 additional posts were provided for mental health to be used primarily to further strengthen Community Mental Health Teams in both adult and children's mental health services, to advance activities in the area of suicide prevention, to initiate the provision of psychological and counselling services in primary care, specifically for people with mental health problems and to facilitate the re-location of mental health service users from institutional care to more independent living arrangements in their communities, in line with A Vision for Change.

The recruitment process for the posts approved in 2013 is continuing with 367.5 or 78% of the posts filled as at end December 2014, with a further 4 posts with agreed start dates. Other posts are at various stages of the recruitment process. There are, however, a number of posts for which there are difficulties in identifying suitable candidates due to factors including availability of qualified candidates and geographic location. The HSE's National Recruitment Service is currently working to ensure that the remaining posts will be filled as soon as possible, from existing panels or through competition in the absence of panels.