Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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In line with the Programme for Government, my priority as Minister has been to modernise our mental health services, and to prioritise new resources to underpin the implementation of A Vision for Change.This Government, despite severe financial pressures overall, has provided additional ring-fenced funding of €125 million since 2012 up to end 2015, for mental health to modernise services in line with Vision and Programme for Government commitments.

The additional €20 million provided for mental health in 2014 must be seen in the context of the overall additional ring-fenced funding for mental health since 2012. This amount was considered appropriate given the challenge in recruiting staff to new posts, which has improved since then. The overall additional ring-fenced funding since 2012 represents a significant investment, facilitating the prioritised development and reconfiguration of Community Mental Health Teams for adults and children and adolescents. The funding is also being used to enhance specialist community mental health services for older people with a mental illness, those with an intellectual disability and mental illness, forensic mental health services, and to enhance access to counselling and psychotherapy in primary care and for suicide prevention measures.

The details of the 2016 Budget will be finalised with the HSE in the context of approval of its 2016 National Service Plan, which will also outline the total amount of funding for all services, including, mental health services, in 2016.

An additional €35 million will be provided in 2016 in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government to accelerate the pace of change to develop a modern, patient-centred, and recovery-orientated mental health service. This means that, despite serious resource pressures overall, this Government will provide funding of €160 million up to end of 2016 which has been specifically ear-marked for new developments in mental health and suicide prevention. This will enable the HSE to continue to develop and modernise our mental health services in line with the recommendations of A Vision for Change.