Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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2063.To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 643 of 3 October 2023, if the further correspondence received from a person (details supplied) can be reviewed and moneys ringfenced to allow for this critical service to be progressed in south Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31309/24]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Child and youth mental health remains a priority of this Government to ensure that children and their families have access to mental health services and support when they need them.

Significant investment has been provided over recent years to develop all aspects of mental health care, in line with implementation of our policies Sharing the Vision and Connecting for Life with over €1.3 billion provided for mental health this year.

Separate to the dedicated funding of €1.3 billion this year for Mental Health, the €1.5 billion recently announced by Government for the HSE is not new additional funding but was provided to support the HSE to deliver services up to end of this year, and to address an acknowledged HSE deficit in 2024 .

Overall, there has been an increase of 476 in Mental Health service staffing numbers from 10,362 in December 2021 to 10,838 in December 2023. The HSE has increased staffing in community CAMHS from around 659 in December 2021 to around 820 posts at present.

As you may be aware, a recruitment pause was introduced by Mr Gloster, CEO of the HSE, in response to the HSE exceeding its funded workforce targets for 2024. Exceptional investment by this Government in the health sector workforce in recent years led to consistent growth since 2020. It is crucial that this workforce growth continues in a manageable and affordable manner with the HSE operating within budgeted levels.

While the HSE recruitment embargo applies to CAMHS in the same way as other care groups, new service development posts approved in 2024 are not affected by the embargo. The were 68 new posts allocated under Budget 2024 and this has been augmented by a further new 64 posts under €10 million recently announced by Minister Butler.