Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to enhancing mental health services, which will involve service improvement and reform, in addition to funding increases.

With regard to funding for mental health services, the total allocation for mental health services in 2024 is approximately €1.3 billion, which is the fourth year in a row in which the mental health budget has been increased. This increase in funding for mental health services represents a significant investment which will enable continued policy implementation and service improvement in line with our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision. This year’s budget allocation builds on the investment this Government has made over the last number of years to deliver the policy priorities of Sharing the Vision through the provision of mental health supports across a broad continuum from mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention, to acute and specialist mental health service delivery, and enabling us to continue to deliver our vital services to as many people as possible, as we move into 2024.

As part of the funding allocated to mental health services, new development funding has been secured to advance initiatives on youth mental health, and around priority groups identified within our national suicide prevention strategy Connecting for Life. This new development funding will be focused on increased CAMHS staffing, a new Youth Mental Health app, a referral pilot for children's community services including CAMHS (piloting an approach to service referrals known as ‘No Wrong Door’), the expansion of Suicide Bereavement Liaison Services, and expanding the Traveller Counselling Service to achieve national coverage for the first time.

In addition to this, I have secured additional funding of €10m for mental health services in the revised estimates process, with details of additional allocations to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

It should be noted that funding for mental health supports is dispersed across many areas of Government, and there is no single headline funding figure which captures this important figure. For example, the figure of approximately €1.3bn above does not include funding for other parts of the health service that provide mental health services and supports, such as psychotropic medicines funded by the Primary Care Reimbursement Service, liaison mental health services in acute hospitals, some dual diagnosis (addiction and mental health) services, and mental health and well-being promotion.

It also does not include spending by other departments on services that incorporate psychological or mental health supports, such as the Prison and Probation Services, Social Protection, Defence Forces, or the Department of Education.