Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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581. To ask the Minister for Health to support a matter (details supplied) regarding mental health; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46691/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Under Section 22 of the Health Act 2004, the HSE has the authority to appoint persons to be its employees and may determine their duties. This includes the appointment of persons to posts in psychology services.

A HSE Psychology Eligibility Review Group was convened, in April 2015, to review the current care group delineations and make appropriate recommendations and also to review the eligibility requirements for each care group in the context of competencies for the posts and the PSI accreditation guidelines. The final report of the HSE Psychology Eligibility Review Group is expected to be issued in January and the recommendations are currently being drafted for the National Director of HR and the Director General of the HSE.

Action 46 of Future Health (DoH, 2012) provides for the Department of Health to work with the HSE to implement an approach to workforce planning and development with the objectives of recruiting and retaining the right mix of staff; training and upskilling the workforce; providing for professional and career development; creating supportive and healthy workplaces.

In 2016, working together with the HSE, the Department will develop a national integrated strategic framework for health workforce planning on a cross-sectoral basis, including the Department of Education. The framework is intended to support the stability and sustainability of the health workforce in Ireland.

Since coming into office, this Government has made significant efforts to prioritise and modernise mental health care. We have provided €160 million ring-fenced funding and approved 1,150 new posts for mental health since 2012 up to the end of 2016, to modernise services in line with A Vision for Changeand Programme for Government commitments. A key focus has been additional posts to strengthen Community Mental Health Teams for both adults and children. This funding is also being used to enhance specialist community mental health and forensic services, increase the access to counselling and psychotherapy and for suicide prevention initiatives. In 2016, funding will be provided for the continued development of counselling services across both primary and secondary care, including the provision of two new Jigsaw youth mental health services in Cork and Dublin city and for the continued development of Community Mental Health Teams and improved 24/7 responses and liaison services.